The Rent Is Too Damn High Party is a political party based in New York City that ran candidates for mayor in 2005 and 2009, generating a lot of publicity. The Rent Is Too Damn High Party claims that tenants would have more money if rents were lower. (It is hard to argue with that logic.)

A new study from Harvard University has concluded that The Rent Is Too Damn High Party is correct. According to the study titled ‘America’s Rental Housing’ from the Joint Center for Housing Studies, rents have been rising at a greater rate than tenant income for over 50 years. The number of people who rent and who pay more than 30 percent of their income for housing has risen from 25 percent in 1960 to 50 percent today. Harvard researchers also found that about 28 percent of those who rented in 2011 paid more than half of their income for housing. The Harvard report warns that the problem of affordability could worsen if Congress eliminates the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit.