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Rising rent prices push record number of Americans toward housing crisis, prompting legislative action

Rising rent prices push record number of Americans toward housing crisis, prompting legislative action

Single mom Caitlyn Colbert watched as rent for her two-bedroom apartment doubled, then tripled and then quadrupled over a decade in Denver — from $750 to $3,374 last year. Every month, like millions of Americans, Colbert juggled her costs. Pay rent or swim team fees for one of her three kids. Rent or school supplies. Rent or groceries. Colbert, a social worker who helps people stay financially afloat, would often arrive home to notices giving her 30 days to pay rent and a late fee or face eviction. “Every month you just gotta budget and then you still fall short,” she said, adding what became a monthly refrain: “Well, this month at least we have $13 left.” RENT STABILIZATION, AFFORDABLE HOUSING MEASURES APPROVED ACROSS SEVERAL US CITIES Millions of Americans, especially people of color, are facing those same, painful decisions as a record number struggle with unaffordable rent increases, a crisis fueled by rising prices from inflation, a shortage of affordable housing and the end of pandemic relief. The latest data from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, released in January, found that a record high 22.4 million renter households — or half of renters nationwide — were spending more than 30% of their income on rent in 2022. The number of affordable units — with rents under $600 — also dropped to 7.2 million that year, 2.1 million fewer than a decade earlier. Those factors contributed to a dramatic rise in eviction filings and a record number of people becoming homeless. GEORGIA STOPS ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FROM PEOPLE ASKING FOR RENT ASSISTANCE “It’s one of the worst years we’ve ever seen,” said Whitney Airgood-Obrycki, a senior research associate at the Harvard center, who added that the level of cost-burdened households in 2022 had not been seen since the Great Recession in 2008, when 10 million Americans lost their homes to foreclosure. After failing to make a significant dent in the problem over the last decade, state and federal lawmakers across the U.S. are making housing a priority in 2024 and throwing the kitchen sink at the issue — including proposals to enact eviction protections, institute zoning reforms, cap annual rent increases and dedicate tens of billions of dollars toward building more housing. The hardest hit have been renters who made less than $30,000, and who, after paying rent and utilities, were left with just $310 a month on average, Airgood-Obrycki said. “So you can certainly imagine the kinds of tradeoffs that have to happen,” she said. “Cost-burden renters are spending less on things like food and health care and retirement. So, there are significant implications for the long-term well-being of these households.” In Denver, Colbert’s bathroom roof partly caved in from a leak last year, and the landlord delayed a fix even as rent went up $200 a month. It was the last straw for Colbert, who moved in to live with family and is purchasing a home through Habitat for Humanity, which gave her a low-interest loan. “It’s so disheartening, paying so much and not even seeing where your rent is going,” Colbert said. “It just hits you like, ‘This is for nothing.’” In Auburn, Massachusetts, pervasive rent hikes have already hit the last bastion of affordable housing. Just off an interstate alongside a pond, residents at the American Mobile Home Park face rent increases upwards of 40%. Many tenants, mostly seniors and others on fixed incomes, haven’t signed new leases with those increases. The group Lawyers For Civil Rights has sent a letter to the landlord accusing it of “unconscionable rent increases,” and failing to provide critical services like adequate garbage and snow removal. “How am I going to pay that?” said Amy Case, 49, wondering how she’ll balance the $345 monthly increase with the $200 she has to spend on medications and the cost of a twice-yearly MRI to monitor her brain tumor. “I don’t know what else to cut back on,” said Case, an administrative assistant at a local college, who said she would only have $300 left over each month for other necessities. “Probably less groceries. I certainly can’t cut back on my medications.” Another tenant, 72-year-old Ann Urbanovitch, who works as a cashier at a department store, is facing a similar rent increase. “I expected it to go up $100, but $345. I was shocked,” she said. “I have to dip into my retirement savings … because, you know, times are tough.” The mobile home park owner, Parakeet Communities, did not respond to a request from The Associated Press for comment. With many families struggling to pay, landlords in Colorado are increasingly turning to evictions, with over 50,000 evictions filed last year, according to data from the Colorado Judicial Branch. “2023 was the high-water mark for evictions filings in recorded Colorado history,” said Zach Neumann, co-CEO of the Community Economic Defense Project, which offers financial and legal assistance to Colorado residents struggling with rent. Monique Gant, the mother of two boys, stuffed her belongings into boxes in a Denver suburb last week after losing a drawn-out eviction fight, planning to move between long-stay hotel rooms and her RV for now. Gant’s hair has thinned from the stress she buries beneath a stoic face for her children. “My kids, they assume that I am Super Woman,” said Gant. But “when I go to take a shower, put some music on, I cry.” Already, she said, her 10- and 11-year-old sons have been in fights at school and on the bus, and aren’t engaging with classes as they once did. About 40% of those facing eviction each year are children — some 2.9 million, according to a study co-authored by Nick Graetz at Princeton University’s Eviction Lab, who said research shows wide-ranging impacts of housing turbulence and eviction on children’s mental health and development. “We can see that things really fall off for children that experience eviction,” Graetz said. In Congress, lawmakers are working on a bill that would expand a federal program that

House lawmakers to grill Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on secret hospitalization

House lawmakers to grill Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on secret hospitalization

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has agreed to appear before lawmakers and face questions on his secret hospitalization later this month. Austin will appear at a hearing hosted by the House Armed Services Committee on Feb. 29, according to the committee.  “The Department of Defense has confirmed to the House Armed Services Committee that Secretary Austin will testify before on the Committee on February 29th on his failure to disclose his hospitalization,” House Armed Services Committee spokesperson Justine Tripathi said.  The Committee called Austin to testify after the defense secretary was hospitalized last month for prostate cancer treatment without public notice and without informing the White House. DEFENSE SEC. AUSTIN APOLOGIZED DIRECTLY TO BIDEN OVER HOSPITALIZATION CONTROVERSY: ‘DID NOT HANDLE THIS RIGHT’  Austin, 70, told reporters he apologized directly to President Biden for not giving advance notice of his condition or hospital stay, acknowledging, “I did not handle this right.”  “I should have told the president about my cancer diagnosis. I should have also told my team and the American public, and I take full responsibility. I apologize to my teammates and to the American people,” he said at a press conference last Thursday.  Austin insisted there were “no gaps in authorities and no risk to the department’s command and control” during his hospitalization, which came at a time of crisis in the Middle East. The day he returned to work in person at the Pentagon, Jan. 29, was one day after a drone strike by Iran-backed militants killed three U.S. service members and injured at least 40 others in Jordan at a post near the Syrian border. WHITE HOUSE ESTABLISHES GUIDELINES FOR CABINET NOTIFICATIONS FOLLOWING AUSTIN’S HOSPITALIZATION CONTROVERSY Fox News’ national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin noted that during the time that Austin was in the intensive care unit, there was a drone strike carried out against an Iraqi leader of a militia.  The unannounced absence has led to calls from some lawmakers for Austin to resign, but he has said he will not do so. DOJ SAYS MERRICK GARLAND TO TRANSFER POWER DURING UPCOMING BACK SURGERY AFTER BIDEN DEFENSE DEPT CONTROVERSY House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., called on Austin to testify before the committee in a Jan. 18 letter and answer questions including whether the defense secretary instructed his staff not to inform the president of his hospitalization. Austin’s office said the Department of Defense provided the House Armed Services Committee three letters in a “good-faith effort” to respond to the panel while “recognizing that there is an internal 30-day review underway, and the DOD Inspector General is conducting his own review.” Austin returned to work in a virtual capacity on Jan. 5 while still hospitalized, even authorizing airstrikes on Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis. Despite being admitted to Walter Reed upon Jan.1, the Pentagon didn’t inform the public, press or Congress until Jan. 5.  Officials also acknowledged that the White House had not been informed about Austin’s hospitalization until Jan. 4.  Fox News Danielle Wallace, Louis Casiano and Aishah Hasnie contributed to this report.

Dueling Republican contests: Trump to romp in Nevada GOP caucus after Haley loses presidential primary

Dueling Republican contests: Trump to romp in Nevada GOP caucus after Haley loses presidential primary

He wasn’t on the ballot, but Donald Trump still managed to be a winner in Nevada’s state-run Republican presidential primary. On Thursday, Trump’s expected to land an outright victory in the Nevada GOP’s caucus. Trump’s absence from the primary ballot wasn’t enough to provide a path to victory for Nikki Haley – Trump’s last remaining major rival for the Republican nomination. The former two-term South Carolina governor who later served as U.N. ambassador in the Trump administration lost to a “none of these candidates” option by a wide margin in a primary where no GOP convention delegates were at stake. Voters casting ballots in the primary couldn’t write in Trump’s name, but they could vote for “none of these candidates.” And Trump supporters Fox News interviewed outside of polling stations said that is how they voted. While Trump, the commanding front-runner for the 2024 GOP nomination as he makes his third straight White House run, wasn’t on the primary ballot, his name will be listed in Thursday’s caucus, where 26 delegates are up for grabs. The confusion over having two competing contests dates to 2021, when Democrats, who at the time controlled both Nevada’s governor’s office and the legislature, passed a law changing the presidential nominating contest from long-held caucuses to a state-run primary.  WHAT NIKKI HALEY TOLD FOX DIGITAL ABOUT WHAT SHE NEEDS TO DO TO KEEP RUNNING The Nevada GOP objected, but last year their legal bid to stop the primary from going forward was rejected. In a twist, the judge in the case allowed the state Republicans to hold their own caucuses. No delegates will be at stake in the Republican primary, while all 26 will be up for grabs in the GOP caucus. The state GOP ruled that candidates who put their name on the state-run primary ballot could not take part in the caucuses.  Haley and some of the other now-departed Republican presidential candidates viewed the Nevada GOP as too loyal to Trump and decided to skip a caucus they believed was tipped in favor of the former president. Nevada GOP chair Michael McDonald and both of the state’s members of the Republican National Committee are supporting Trump. HALEY, TRUMP, TRADE SHOTS OVER WHO’S STRONGER AGAINST BIDEN “We made the decision early on that we were not going to pay $55,000 to a Trump entity that, you know, to participate in a process that was rigged for Trump,” Haley campaign manager Betsy Ankney argued on Monday. While the GOP presidential candidates had to choose either the caucus or primary ballot, registered Republicans in Nevada can vote in both contests. Trump’s campaign has been working to get the message out to supporters in Nevada that if they want to vote for the former president, they need to show up at the caucuses. HALEY APPLIES FOR SECRET SERVICE PROTECTION ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL “Your primary vote doesn’t mean anything. It’s your caucus vote,” Trump said at a rally in Las Vegas late last month. “So in your state, you have both the primary and you have a caucus. Don’t worry about the primary, just do the caucus thing.” Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, who is supporting Trump, told the Nevada Independent last month that he would vote for “none of these candidates” in the primary, and would caucus for Trump in the state GOP’s contest on Thursday. While her name was on the ballot, Haley ignored the Nevada primary. Haley didn’t campaign in Nevada ahead of the primary and hasn’t been in the state since speaking in late October at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership conference. “In terms of Nevada, we have not spent a dime nor an ounce of energy on Nevada,” Ankney emphasized. “So Nevada is not and has never been our focus.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP As the vote count continued on Tuesday night, the former president took to his Truth Social network to take aim at Haley. “A bad night for Nikki Haley. Losing by almost 30 points in Nevada to “None of These Candidates.” Watch, she’ll soon claim Victory!” he argued. Trump is expected back in Las Vegas on Thursday, for a caucus celebration. This week’s contests are just an appetizer for Nevada, which as a key general election battleground state will see plenty of campaign traffic this summer and autumn. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Sen. Rand Paul slams GOP leadership for ‘dragging’ caucus into ‘dead’ bipartisan border bill with Democrats

Sen. Rand Paul slams GOP leadership for ‘dragging’ caucus into ‘dead’ bipartisan border bill with Democrats

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, lashed out at Republican leadership over the botched bipartisan border deal that Republicans are planning to shoot down Wednesday afternoon.  “The bill is flawed from top to bottom,” Paul told Fox News Digital in an interview. “No conservatives in the Senate will vote for this. No conservatives in the House are going to vote for it. The House speaker says it’s dead on arrival. It really shows incredibly bad strategy on Senate Republican leadership to bring this up at all.” Paul made his comments after Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Tuesday afternoon he thinks it’s time for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to step down, arguing the longstanding leader should have walked away from supporting the border bill negotiations with Democrats and Biden administration officials. CALIFORNIA DEMOCRAT BLOCKS GOP RESOLUTION TO DECLARE MIGRANT CRISIS ‘AN INVASION’ “The Republicans who vote for this are going to be pilloried by Republicans at home,” Paul said. “So, there’s really no good logic in doing it this way. And I think it was because basically Sen. McConnell, Sen. [Chuck] Schumer and President Biden … they want to send more of our money to Ukraine. This was always sort of a sideshow for them in order to get what they really want, which is sending more of our money overseas.”  Paul argued “the current law is sufficient” and that Biden has the authority to shut down illegal crossings.  “When President Trump was president, his administration was able to control the border without any changes in the law,” he said.  “Republicans have to realize when they vote as a minority to drag us into this, the majority of the caucus doesn’t want it,” Paul continued. “It really adds to discord and strife and really makes many of us wonder about our leadership just dragging us into Democrat deals that are all the Democrats and a handful of Republicans. Just doesn’t seem like a very unifying way to run our caucus.” Paul, a hawkish figure who opposes additional Ukraine aid, criticized the ongoing talks on the border with little focus on oversight to foreign funds in the bill.  “I think we’ll eventually get back to that issue,” he asserted.  The U.S. has sent more than $100 billion to Ukraine since the war against Russia began in February 2022.  GOP SENATORS DEMAND ‘ADEQUATE TIME’ TO REVIEW BORDER SECURITY BILL Initially, when the White House urged Congress to pass the national security supplemental package in October, Republicans sought to separate Ukraine and Israel aid. While members were united in supporting Israel, they were divided on continued aid for Ukraine.  However, the focus later shifted to the border, with the administration initially allocating $14 billion toward expediting asylum processing, which outraged Republicans who wanted a complete overhaul to the system.  “But I think the overall deal is in all likelihood, dead,” Paul added. The bill aims to end “catch and release,” permitting migrants and families to enter under federal supervision for 90 days to complete asylum interviews. Passing migrants will receive work permits, while failing ones are repatriated. It mandates detention for those entering outside official ports, with funding for up to 77 repatriation flights daily. At least 22 GOP senators and three Democrats oppose the bipartisan bill. McConnell’s outlook on the bill’s passage, once checkered with optimism, appeared grim by Tuesday afternoon as mounting opposition from his conference bubbled over.  SENATE RELEASES LONG-AWAITED BORDER LEGISLATION, MAJOR ASYLUM CHANGES “I think, in the end, even though the product is approved by the border council that adores President Trump, most of our members feel that we’re not going to be able to make a law here,” said McConnell, a strong supporter of aid to Ukraine.  “And if we’re not going to be able to make a law, they’re reluctant to go forward. There are other parts of this supplemental that’re extremely important as well — Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan. We still, in my view, tackle the rest of it because it’s important. “Not that the border isn’t important, but we can’t get an outcome. So, that’s where I think we ought to head up to Sen. Schumer to decide how to repackage this if, in fact, we don’t hold onto it.” The proposed legislation, released Sunday evening after months of negotiations, will total just over $118 billion, with 50,000 new visas. Biden’s original request amounted to around $106 billion.  The emergency border proposal is aimed at gaining control of an overrun asylum system that has been overwhelmed by historic numbers of migrants illegally crossing the border. The bill proposes an overhaul to the system with tougher and quicker enforcement measures. At least 1.5 million illegal immigrants identified as “gotaways” crossed the border under the Biden administration, according to a 2023 report.  The bill’s emergency provisions, which Biden would have the authority to suspend on an emergency basis, would go into effect when there is an average of 5,000 or more daily encounters with illegal immigrants over a seven-day period or, alternatively, when a combined total of 8,500 or more aliens are encountered on any single calendar day.  However, the bill states that if the president “finds that it is in the national interest to temporarily suspend the border emergency authority, the President may direct the Secretary to suspend use of the border emergency authority on an emergency basis.”  Essentially, the “border emergency” triggered at 5,000 crossings per day within a week can be overturned by President Biden. The bill would allot $20 billion to immigration enforcement, including the hiring of thousands of new officers to evaluate asylum claims, as well as hundreds of Border Patrol agents. Some of those taxpayer funds would go to bailing out shelters and services in cities across the U.S. that are struggling to keep up with the influx of migrants in recent months. Migrants who seek asylum, which provides protection for people facing persecution in their home countries,

House Republicans wrestle with Ukraine aid’s future as Senate spending deal crumbles

House Republicans wrestle with Ukraine aid’s future as Senate spending deal crumbles

House Republicans who support sending aid to Ukraine are scrambling to find a way to move it through Congress as a compromise on funding Kyiv while overhauling U.S. border policy appears increasingly likely to fail.  “There’s a bunch of us advocating for military aid because that’s what they really need,” Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., told Fox News Digital Tuesday. “All the rebuilding stuff, let’s talk about that later. They need weapons.” Several GOP lawmakers have suggested that a standalone Ukraine aid bill that’s solely focused on weapons and defensive funding, less than the roughly $60 billion that President Biden has requested, could get enough bipartisan support to pass the House and Senate. UKRAINE’S DIMINISHED FORCES DRIVE RECRUITMENT PUSH, PROPOSAL TO LOWER DRAFT AGE Biden’s Ukraine request is part of a $118 billion supplemental security funding deal cobbled together by Senate and White House negotiators. The bill includes border policy reforms and aid for Israel and Taiwan. But Ukraine funding, an issue that’s faced a growing number of GOP skeptics in Congress, appears to be in danger of falling by the wayside because that bipartisan Senate deal sits “on life support,” as Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., put it during a Tuesday morning press conference.  The deal has been hemorrhaging GOP support since the text was released on Sunday evening, with even its lead negotiators expressing doubt it would pass.  Meanwhile, House Republicans have tried twice now to pass standalone aid for Israel, citing its war against Hamas.  ZELENSKYY WILL FACE ‘RECKONING’ WHEN WAR WITH RUSSIA ENDS, EXPERT SAYS “If the Ukrainians don’t have the weapons that they need to defend themselves, then it’s going to be a conquering from Russia,” Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., told Fox News Digital. “It’s not OK. It’s not in the best interest of the United States. “The majority of us in the House and the majority in the Senate, I believe, want the Ukrainians to have the weapons that they need to defend themselves. And I think you will continue to see those of us who want them to have the weapons to defend themselves continue to push for them.” Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif., criticized the supplemental aid bill as overbroad and called for a narrower, targeted Ukraine bill that also addresses the concerns Republicans have regarding corruption and accountability over aid dollars. “I’ve been very clear with the White House what questions they need to answer in order to get support for Ukraine funding,” Garcia said.  “Anything that starts with a ’B’ in terms of funding, if it’s not an appropriations package, outside of the normal cycle, should be an à la carte, independent conversation,” he added, referring to billions of dollars in funding. ZELENSKYY SAYS UKRAINE CAN BEAT PUTIN’S TROOPS BUT NEEDS WESTERN HIGH-TECH HELP Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, argued that failing to help Ukraine could have repercussions elsewhere. “Following the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, a U.S. decision to abandon Ukraine will make America less safe, convey weakness to our enemies and make U.S. partners doubt our commitment,” McCaul said. “Moreover, supplemental funding is critical to reviving the U.S. defense industrial base so we are better prepared to deter our greatest adversaries like China, Russia and Iran.” Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., a member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus who has been sympathetic to Ukraine, suggested he could get behind a standalone, narrow aid bill. “Congress meets all year. There’s no need to have a $60 billion package,” Harris said. “The European Union package is a slightly smaller package spread out over five years. So, I don’t know why we would not just bite off a smaller piece of military-only aid and move forward with that.” The speaker said Ukraine was still a priority for the House when pressed about it earlier Tuesday but did not give any details on what kind of aid package he’d entertain. “That’s not been abandoned, but there’s a lot more work that needs to be done with regard to what the answers are that the White House needs to provide us,” Johnson said. “End game strategy, accountability for the funding — all of these very specific details that the House is required to consider when we make such heavy decisions.” The U.S. has directed roughly $75 billion toward Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion in 2022.