The rent is too high. After historic surge, is relief on the way?
The landlord’s letter sat on her dining room table for three months. The rent on her two-bedroom Boston apartment was going up $300 a month. Then, Betty Lewis made her decision: She wouldn’t pay the increase.
So every month for the past four years, she has paid her 2018 monthly rent of $1,800 a month, ignoring subsequent increases and monthly fines for failure to pay.
“I was frightened. I was angry,” says Ms. Lewis, who credits a tenant-rights group, City Life/Vida Urbana, for giving her the courage to act. “It just gave me encouragement to fight back, and not sit back and let people run over you.”
Ms. Lewis is not just defying her landlord; she is in her own way fighting inflation – a problem that has grown to be Americans’ top economic concern. In less dramatic fashion, legions of other consumers are doing the same – moving in with roommates or parents and curbing their demands for products by dialing back on purchases. Companies fight inflation when they boost the supply
