Desperate homeowners, renters giving up food and even their pets to afford housing. What you can do if you’re squeezed

<h1>Desperate homeowners, renters giving up food and even their pets to afford housing. What you can do if you’re squeezed</h1>
<p>A recent survey from Redfin (1) shows that 49% of U.S. residents struggle to afford their monthly rent or mortgage.</p>
<p>And for Gen Z, it’s a full-blown crunch with more than two-thirds (67%) saying they have difficulty keeping up with housing payments.</p>
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<p>For many Americans, managing their personal finances has gone beyond belt-tightening and into pure survival mode where people are sometimes sacrificing basic necessities to stay on track.</p>
<h2>What Americans are giving up to keep a roof over their heads</h2>
<p>Housing costs remain stubbornly high. Redfin reports that buyers now need to earn $111,000 a year to afford the typical U.S. home, roughly $25,000 more than the median household income (2).</p>
<p>Mortgage rates (3) have cooled slightly but were still historically elevated when the survey was conducted, in November 2025, as compared to 2022.</p>
<p>Redfin notes that compared to last spring, things have actually worsened. In a survey from May 2025, 44% of Americans said they struggled with housing payments. By November, that proportion climbed to nearly half.</p>
<p>According to a recent analysis by the National Association of Homebuilders (4), 65% of households across 39 states and the District of Columbia can’t afford the median-priced new home.</p>
<p>Young adults are getting hit the hardest. Only 27% of Gen Zers own a home, compared to more than half of millennials, and more than 70% of Gen Xers and baby boomers, according to the Redfin report.</p>
<p>Many younger workers have yet to hit their peak earning years and are still building savings, anxious about layoffs or a potential recession, but the result is a generation who are pushing back major milestones and in some cases, maybe even basic needs.</p>
<p>To make rent or cover the mortgage, Americans are making deeply personal trade-offs like cutting back on eating out, skipping vacations and working extra hours.</p>
<p>But the most shocking data from Redfin reveals how much further some are going:</p>
<ul>
<li> <p class="yf-1fy9kyt">15% say they’ve skipped meals entirely to afford housing.</p></li>
<li> <p class="yf-1fy9kyt">14% have delayed seeking medical care.</p></li>
<li> <p class="yf-1fy9kyt">4% have postponed having children.</p></li>
<li> <p class="yf-1fy9kyt">4% have even given up pets.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Among Gen Zers specifically, 20% have sold belongings, 18% have taken on side hustles and 15% have moved back in with their parents.</p>