Rent hikes pick up again, forcing some out of the house

Movers will be arriving in the next few days to help Donna Katie pack and move from the Grapevine to Lake Worth.

It’s a choice she says she was forced to make.

“Just a couple of weeks before Christmas, I got a letter in my inbox saying my rent would go up to $1,295,” Donna told Cathy.

Throw in a new responsibility for some utilities, and Katy said she and several neighbors aged 55 and over are facing an increase of about $400 a month.

“Walking down the sidewalk, I opened this letter and almost fell on my face. I thought there was no way this could be right,” she said.

A recent report by Apartments.com showed that since 2019, rental rates have increased by $230 in Fort Worth, $250 in Dallas and $400 in Plano.

According to its analysts, rates are rising again after a short recovery.

According to the Texas Tenants Union, these increases are a problem.

Chief Executive Sandy Rollins said they are constantly getting calls from people struggling to pay as the median rent in Dallas is $1,535, inches closer to the average Social Security benefit of $1,827 a month.

“There was a shortage of affordable housing even before the pandemic, it definitely didn’t get better during the pandemic. You know, low-wage workers and people on fixed incomes, retirees and people in a difficult position, Rollins said.

After the Texas Rent Relief portal was overwhelmed with 70,000 applications in the first 24 hours since it opened on Tuesday, the Texas Department of Housing and Public Affairs announced it would close early.

When the portal first opened in 2021, there were fewer than 20,000 applications on its busiest day.

For people like Kathy who don’t qualify, the only option is to look for accommodation elsewhere. She said it took her months to find accommodation at a price she could afford, and it was further from friends and family than she would have liked.

However, her thoughts are with neighbors who no longer work and have even fewer options.

“I understand fair market value,” she said. “I understand about property taxes and all that, but I just think it’s all about corporate greed.”

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