Young people are increasingly lamenting their inability to keep up with the high cost of affording a home or paying rent in America’s big cities on social media.
As reported by Business Insider, millennials complaining about their increasing rent have become a growing voice on TikTok.
Many have called recent rent price hikes "insane" and have vented their frustration about not being able to make ends meet with their jobs, much less live comfortably.
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In a video that got nearly three million views in less than five days, TikTok creator Kaitlin Murray ripped her leasing office for hiking her rent this month.
After showing users her bill and calling it an example of life kicking her when she’s "down really bad," Murray, who lives in Boston, claimed, "My leasing office chose violence."
She explained, "I moved in in 2021. It was $2600. Still asinine. Ridiculous to pay that amount of money for this tiny a-- little studio apartment."
After explaining that she committed to keeping up with yearly increases in rent, she mentioned that her landlords most recently asked for "$3444 a month, for my 450 square foot studio."
"This is insane," she declared, after explaining that it’s the equivalent of paying $120 for a hotel room nightly.
Creator Ora Hardesty declared to her nearly 60,000 TikTok followers that this was the first time in her life she hasn’t been able to afford rent in a recent video that earned nearly three million views as well.
"I'm not a rich person, I don't have a lot of stuff, I have basic household necessities — a couch, a bed, a washer and dryer, that's about it," she explained, with tears in her eyes. "I don't have a lot of lavish things, I don't go on vacations, and I don't spend a lot."
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She noted how her rent in Savannah, Georgia has increased from $1300 to $1800, and mentioned that "food prices are too high," which has led her to cutting back on eating "because I literally cannot afford food."
The outlet spoke to multiple real estate agents who claimed that millennials today are facing a variety of financial challenges posed by student debt, medical bills, and the economic downturn of the country.
Coldwell Banker Warburg agent Alana Lindsay told Business Insider, "Millennials are bearing the brunt of this economic downturn because they are the first generation statistically to do worse than their parents across the board in terms of financial health."
"They have large sums of student loans that previous generations did not have, huge medical expenses, credit card debt, and low wages, and are fighting against the overall decrease in the economic mobility of the United States," she added.
FL Cash Home Buyers president and real estate agent Omer Reiner told the outlet that young renters or homeowners don’t have the ability to roll with the punches of price hikes.
"When the rent gets increased to help the landlord pay for higher taxes or just to keep up with the market rate for the property, they have no cushion," he said.
