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The Human Cost of America’s Housing Crisis

Millions lack housing stability, and it’s destroying our future.

Angus Peterson
Edge of Collapse
10 min readDec 30, 2024

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Housing in America has become the new battleground for survival. The ideal of a secure home — a cornerstone of the American Dream — has been eroded by an unforgiving market that prioritizes profit over stability. Over the past decade, housing prices have surged to unprecedented levels. The median home price now stands at $416,100, while the median household income has stagnated at $74,580. This means the average home costs more than 5.6 times the annual income of a typical household, rendering homeownership unattainable for millions. In stark contrast, housing affordability in the mid-20th century often saw median home prices hover around twice annual incomes.

But homebuyers aren’t the only ones suffering. Renters, comprising a third of U.S. households, are experiencing their own crisis. The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment exceeds $1,700 per month, with large cities like New York and Los Angeles seeing averages well above $3,000. Rent hikes, often exceeding inflation rates, continue to squeeze tenants, forcing them to forgo basic necessities to make ends meet. Over 40% of renters are now considered “cost-burdened,” spending more than 30% of their income on housing — a threshold long considered unsustainable by financial experts.

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Edge of Collapse
Edge of Collapse

Published in Edge of Collapse

Becoming collapse aware in the age of the permanent polycrisis.

Angus Peterson
Angus Peterson

Written by Angus Peterson

Becoming collapse aware in the age of the permanent polycrisis. Follow to get all the new stories: https://anguspeterson.medium.com/subscribe

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