(HorizonPost.com) – “I feel like the system is failing me right now,” said Holly Harris, a 31-year-old mother of four children after she read her eviction notices, maintenance requests, and paystubs. Newsweek documented the story of Harris and many other Americans going through an eviction crisis for owing as little as $458 on rent.
Families are cash-strapped as the goods of groceries and other consumer products have increased over the last couple of years. Inflation peaked at 9.1% in June 2022 and during the same period, evictions shot up. Now, the Federal Reserve is predicting an economic contraction later in the year.
In 32 metro areas, court filings increased by double and even triple percentages, according to Eviction Lab. Las Vegas is leading the cities with 57,000 eviction dockets. This represents more than 20,000 additional cases to the annual average. Some tenants are facing multiple cases, according to court officials in Nevada.
But the crisis is also palpable in Minneapolis and Austin, where eviction filings have skyrocketed by five times their original number from 2021 to 2022. The numbers do not appear to be slowing, according to Newsweek. The crisis will continue to exacerbate as many landlords will not rent to those with previous evictions on their record.
As the average rent swells up to an additional $400 a month than it was in early 2020, more than half of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, as reported by LendingClub. Americans have reportedly accepted that inflation is part of their lives and have adjusted accordingly, with many cutting back on their spending. However, with the collapse of major banks in recent months, economists are predicting a recession is likely to occur, according to Bloomberg.
Americans are also having a tougher time buying homes. While down payments have reportedly fallen 35%, they are still at a 30% high before the recession of 2020. But home buyers are not the only ones struggling. As mortgage rates have risen in recent months, lenders are offering buybacks and discounts to incentivize buyers, which may be a sign that they are “desperate,” according to CNBC.
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