Renters Are in Revolt. This Tenant Union Plans to Get Them Organized

The U.S. has largely recovered from the pandemic, but its housing crisis endures.

Americans are getting evicted from their homes at record rates. Landlords have filed more than 1 million evictions in the 10 states tracked by the Eviction Lab at Princeton University. In some cities, evictions jumped nearly 80% between 2021 and 2022. Meanwhile, the average U.S. rent has increased 18% over the past five years, according to Pew. Millions of Americans worried they'd never be in a financial position to buy a home; now, they're faced with the startling reality that they may not be able to rent one either.

This crisis has created a new class of Americans: the "rent-burdened." As homes get more and more expensive, a greater share of the population is renting, especially middle-class people in their 30s and 40s who hoped they would be able to purchase homes by now. In 2023, the rent-to-income ratio crossed 30% for the first time in more than 20 years, according to Moody's, meaning that the typical American renter now spends more than 30% of their income on rent and can be classified as rent-burdened. "The cliche that 'the rent is too damn high' is really true," says Peter Dreier, professor of public policy at Occidental College in Los Angeles. "There’s a renters revolt going on all over the country." To continue reading the rest of the article, please click on the source link below: https://time.com/6325516/kc-tenants-union-time-documentary/