If I lost my current cheap living situation, I would not rent and would never be able to afford a home payment either. I simply do not wish to spend 1.4k-2k a month on rent for a place which I only prepare meals, shower, shit, and sleep and nothing else with no hope for anything other than work, eat, shit, sleep. You could argue about getting roommates, which a lot of people do now, or rent in the middle of nowhere (where you can't get a job anyway) but thats only feasible now till rent goes up even higher. Theres a shit ton of reasons for rent and housing costs to go up and if its already this bad I can foresee it getting much worse as no one is going to do what needs to be done. Right now I COULD make do, but I would rather work and live out of my car than spend 80% of my income on a place where I will spend very little of my time being. Two of my coworkers were homeless when I worked fast food and just slept in the parking lot. They weren't drugees from what I could tell.