MEMPHIS, Tenn. — In Shelby County, bankruptcies and a shortage of affordable rental properties are leading Memphians to live in properties built for travelers.
“Ever since I got here, I’ve been dealing with slum lords,” Memphian Katherine Harris said.
While receiving treatment for breast cancer in 2022, Harris and her husband, Fred Scott, were forced to move into multiple extended-stay hotels in southeast Memphis after numerous bad experiences with Memphis landlords.
Harris said all of this came about while she filed for bankruptcy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“No one would rent to me, so I was forced to have to go to the hotel,” Harris said.
The country’s housing shortage is pushing a growing number of renters to live in hotels.
“It is easier for [property] owners to operate this way when we have a shortage of rental housing like we currently do,” Jacob Steimer with Housing & Public Policy at MLK50 said. “If they know when you leave your apartment, they don’t have to treat you particularly well.”
According to a study by Realtor.com, the United States’ demand for housing is outpacing the supply by nearly 4 million units of housing, both for rent and for sale. And while bankruptcies have become less common across the country, Shelby County leads the nation in personal bankruptcy with a rate five times higher than the national average.
Harris said it’s a vicious cycle with daily hotel and motel costs making it difficult for her to save up for a deposit on an apartment.
“We really didn’t have money to do anything extra,” Harris said. “So, it’s almost impossible to pay that kind of money. Like at an extended stay, I was paying between six and seven hundred dollars a week.”
Steimer said it’s leaving many Memphians in between a home and homelessness.
“If one extra thing goes wrong, if you get cancer like Katherine Harris did, then you can end up in a really dark, tough spot,” Steimer said.
According to experts, some ways Memphis can help those who might find themselves in situations like Katherine's include changing zoning laws and making it easier for developers to build more affordable housing rentals.