I really don't know how people are existing in today's hellhole of a capitalistic landscape. I'm fairly lucky with a good-paying job and a lowish house payment. I'm still paying a lot more for food and whatnot than I did before covid.
I think at this point, all of us poors are just crossing our collective fingers and hoping the rent doesn't go up, we don't lose our jobs and we don't have to move for any reason. I'm hoping my landlord turns out to be immortal right now. "Affordable" units in the hood here are going for $3,000+, and you need to make less than the equivalent of minimum wage at a full-time job each to qualify for them. We stumbled our way into a three-bedroom apartment in a nice neighborhood for $2,200/month, and he hasn't raised the rent at all. The people who lived downstairs before said he charged them the same rent for close to 10 years before they moved out, so hopefully that streak will continue. Just have to worry that he'll die and whoever inherits the house comes in and jacks up the rent once they can, in which case we'd definitely need to move pretty far away to be able to afford something.
My SO and I live in a 4 bedroom house with 4 other adults in their 30's. I haven't had this many roommates since I was 17, but I'm finally making some progress on my ridiculous medical debt. Best country in the world.