Connecticut residents are pessimistic about their financial future
Most don’t expect to be better off a year from now. The cost of rent is partly to blame.
It used to be that if you worked hard, you could make ends meet. That’s no longer the reality in Connecticut. Working class people are being pushed to exhaustion, desperation, and out of their homes. Getting by shouldn’t be this difficult.
“I made good money, and I still live week-to-week, paycheck-to-paycheck, as a single mother,” Morgan, a nurse whose pay was cut when her work restructured wages, said. “When my rent bills increased overnight by nearly 50%, I was having horrible anxiety and panic attacks. It affected my mental health 100%. Not knowing whether I’m gonna have money to be able to buy groceries next week, would keep me up at night.”
The ALICE report from The United Way shows that the situation is getting worse, with more households falling into poverty. And many people aren’t hopeful that things will get better, especially with rising rent prices threatening to push people out of the state.
Polling from The Connecticut Project Action Fund found that one in three Connecticut voters think they’ll be in a worse financial position next year, while 45% think they’ll be in the same place. Additionally:
- One in six (18%) say their housing costs are more than they can afford
- 55% said they can currently manage their housing costs, but are worried they’ll soon become unaffordable
- 33% of renters said they can’t afford their rent
When you’re spending more on rent, it leaves less for the essentials. It becomes harder to put food in your pantry, gas in your car to get to work, and keep the lights on. A roof over your head isn’t a luxury. The state can’t afford to wait to step in. Renters need help now.
A renter’s tax credit would start to help, by putting money in renter’s pockets every year. Lawmakers must pass a renter’s tax credit to give hardworking Connecticut residents relief. A tax credit will give renters the ability to pay off debt, get caught up on bills, buy food, and save for their future.
The Connecticut Renter’s Tax Credit would:
- be refundable
- be for all renters making up to $75,000 per year (working class people)
- be based on how much someone pays in rent and how much they make each year, with the credit capped at $2,500 per household
- include protections to prevent landlords from knowing how much renters get back.
Even people making decent money can’t afford rent here.
Nicole, in New Haven, is a single mom who works seven days a week to provide for her family.
“I worked so much overtime this year that I increased my annual salary to almost $65,000 for the year instead of the $45,000 I would have made just working 40 hours every week, and it still was not enough,” she told us.
Ashley, in East Windsor, said that even working overtime, she was barely scraping by.
“I was forced to move due to the rent increases,” she told us. “I couldn’t possibly afford our current one-bedroom apartment on only my income … I would love a house one day, maybe start a family, but it doesn’t seem feasible at all.”
The more you spend on rent, the less you can save for your future. Connecticut residents are being forced to skip meals, pay bills late, give up their cars, and stop saving for retirement to make ends meet from month to month. Working class people in this state deserve the opportunity to have better lives, start a family if they want one, and eventually retire. A renter’s tax credit would give renters a boost to get by.
What kind of future is there in Connecticut for moms like Nicole, who are working so many hours they don’t get to enjoy much downtime with their kids? Or for Ashley, who can’t count on being able to stay in one place to put down roots?
The answer to that question is really up to Connecticut lawmakers. If they begin to step up to make rent more affordable, and to give renters some tax relief, it can start to help people move from survival mode to optimism about the future.
Join us to take action to tell lawmakers to pass a renter’s tax credit.