Rents reach 'insane' levels across US with no end in sight

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February 20th, 2022

Krystal Guerra, 32, poses for a picture outside her apartment, which she has to leave after her new landlord gave her less than a month's notice that her rent would go up by 26%, Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022, in the Coral Way neighborhood of Miami. Guerra, who works in marketing while also pursuing a degree part-time, had already been spending nearly 50% of her monthly income on rent prior to the increase. Unable to afford a comparable apartment in the area as rents throughout the city have risen dramatically, Guerra is putting many of her belongings into storage and moving in with her boyfriend and his daughter for the time being. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Krystal Guerra’s Miami apartment has a tiny kitchen, cracked tiles, warped cabinets, no dishwasher and hardly any storage space.

But Guerra was fine with the apartment’s shortcomings. It was all part of being a 32-year-old graduate student in South Florida, she reasoned, and she was happy to live there for a few more years as she finished her marketing degree.

That was until a new owner bought the property and told her he was raising the rent from $1,550 to $1,950, a 26% increase that Guerra said meant her rent would account for the majority of her take-home pay from the University of Miami.

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