Rental housing in the US is extremely insecure. Per data from the Census Bureau, over the past decade, between one in four and one in five renter households moved every year. The 2013 American Housing Survey (also done by the Census Bureau) found that just over 50% of renters had moved within the past 2 years. But the Census Bureau also reports that we are at “historically low” levels of renters moving. Until this most recent decade, around a third of all renter households moved every year.

We talk to Nick, our organization’s treasurer, who moved 9 or 10 times as a child (so many times he can’t remember exactly how many). He said that if his family had a quality home at a price they could afford, they would never have moved once his entire childhood.

Nick’s mom was employed full time as a receptionist, and he lived the majority of his childhood in a well-to-do suburb. Housing instability isn’t about poverty, and it isn’t confined to urban areas. Rental housing in the US is extremely unstable.

We discuss what it was like to move so frequently as a child, as well as the difficulty of building community and a sense of belonging without stable housing. Special thanks to cohost Thomas Johnston of Crypt Creepers. Music by Matt Krco. In addition to Census Bureau data, we also discussed this research paper.