The Rent is Too Damn High. Several years ago an interesting, angry crackpot ran for governor of New York and that was his self-proclaimed political party. And I can certainly understand his stance, though it got him very few votes. He was from New York City where the rent is certainly too damn high. Sky high in fact.

But it is sky high everywhere and so are housing costs in general across the country. And it is crippling generations of millennials and Xers and Zers who cannot imagine the American dream of home ownership.

Not to mention the legions of homeless found everywhere, if you bother to look.

In my mid-size western NY city, rents have risen by 50% in the past few years. A friend’s adult daughter made the mistake of selling their home because it had doubled in value, and now they can’t find a place to live they can afford.

This form of inflation isn’t as in your face as gas prices and empty store shelves. But rent or mortgage payments suck up a much higher percentage of income than any other bills. And landlords require credit checks, large deposits, and that higher rent, and many cannot meet these thresholds.

Another friend watched her credit rating plunge during an apartment search because she had three credit checks in the same week from rental applications. Her credit was great, but she and her husband are black, which, like it or not, is a problem here if you do not want to live in the hood (where the rents are just as high).

I have no idea how any of this changes, which is also a big problem. A big, big problem.