Have you wondered why so many Americans seem angry and stressed?

For many Americans, things are not good.



While big landlords seem to be succeeding at finding tenants who can keep up, the survey, by Apartment List, suggests escalating housing costs may be straining renters’ resources. Eighteen percent of respondents couldn’t pay the full rent due in at least one of the past three months, according to the poll of 40,000 renters. Of those who have registered for the listing site this year, 3.3 percent said they had been evicted in the past, up from 2.8 percent in 2015.

...“It you’re a renter who’s going to have difficulty paying the rent, you’re going to have a harder time finding an apartment in the first place,” Salviati said.

Formal eviction proceedings are processed through local courts, making data difficult to aggregate. Renters who have been evicted once are often blacklisted by landlords, Salviati said.

There's nothing like the impending prospect of homelessness to sharpen a person's focus.

If tens of millions of Americans are hanging over the cliff of homelessness, then this country is in an economic crisis.

Gawd forbid the economy ever turns down again, because tens of millions of Americans are in no position to weather that storm. They'll be ruined and desperate in just a few months.

However, the real kicker is further down in the article.



The Apartment List data suggest the burden is worsening from just a few years ago. The Census Bureau’s 2013 American Housing Survey included a series of questions on whether tenants were having trouble paying the rent. Seven percent of renter households failed to pay all or part of the rent in the preceding three months, according to the survey, which didn’t include a question on delinquent payments in 2015.

People unable to pay their rent went from 7% to 18% in the last four years, even while the unemployment rate dropped to 4%.

Obviously the problem isn't the number of jobs.

The problem is that wages aren't keeping up with the cost of living.

18% is a number that keeps popping up.



Yet the decrease in people facing mortgage payments means a rise in renters, and rental prices have increased 18% over the last five years, according to Department of Labor data cited by the Journal.

Wages certainly haven't increased 18% in the last five years.

Even during the housing crash, rents never dropped.

Not adjusting for inflation, today's median rent is roughly double that of 1995, far outpacing overall inflation.

The rental affordability crisis will have considerable economic consequences that go beyond just crushing the disposable income of consumers.



Many individuals and families who make too much to qualify for subsidized housing also make too little to live in urban centers that have high rents. Without the middle class, industries will endure significant shortages in much-needed jobs in education, healthcare, public safety and more.

The fact that the financial condition of renters has deteriorated so much in the last four years is scary considering what this four year old study shows.



An estimated 1 in 3 adults with a credit history -- or 77 million people -- are so far behind on some of their debt payments that their account has been put "in collections." That's a key finding from a new Urban Institute study.

It examined non-mortgage debt, including credit card bills, car loans, medical bills, child support payments and even parking tickets.

It's hard to believe that the credit environment of American workers has done anything but get worse, while the ability of Americans to pay their rent has declined dramatically.