Housing Costs Have Gen Z Skipping Meals to Make Rent

When rent is due, what gets cut first? For a huge share of young people around the world, the answer is the essentials. Housing costs are forcing three in four people globally to cut back on at least one expense to keep a roof over their heads, according to Habitat for Humanity's announcement of its new global report, Home at What Cost?, released in October 2026. The research, based on nationally representative surveys of 30,000 people across 22 countries fielded between April and June 2026, found the pressure lands hardest on younger generations: 81% of Gen Z and millennial respondents said they had trimmed spending to afford their homes.

The trade-offs go far beyond skipping takeout. About 33% of respondents said they spent less on food over the past year to cover their housing, 32% dipped into savings or emergency funds, and 13% delayed or avoided medical care. These are not lifestyle trims; they are health and security sacrifices made to stay housed. Housing costs are effectively taxing people's wellbeing, and young renters are paying the highest rate.

Long-term plans are taking a hit too. Overall, 56% of respondents said housing costs make it hard to consider starting a family, a figure that rises to 62% among Gen Z and millennials. Nearly half said a single unexpected problem could threaten their ability to stay housed, and more than half said the housing system in their country is broken or simply does not work. For a generation already anxious about the future, the message is stark: the price of a home now includes the life you wanted to build inside it.

Renters Are Taking the Biggest Hit

The report shows a clear divide between renters and owners. Among renters, 28% said their housing situation could hurt their health, compared with 19% of homeowners, as reported by RentDataNow's breakdown of the findings. Some 45% of renters said staying where they live means giving up things they had hoped for, a far higher share than owners reported. And among parents and guardians, 68% of renters worry that housing costs limit their children's opportunities, compared with 54% of homeowners.

Safety is part of the trade-off as well. The report found that 40% of respondents accept some level of housing risk — a less safe neighborhood, a building in poor repair — because safer options are financially out of reach. Housing costs are not just reshaping budgets; they are reshaping what people consider an acceptable place to live.

Buying Isn't the Escape Hatch Either

It would be comforting to think ownership solves the problem, but the data says otherwise — especially for young buyers. A separate national survey of 1,018 Australians found that 66% of renters said their housing had harmed their wellbeing, compared with 27% of homeowners, according to Mortgage Professional Australia's coverage of the survey. Yet among Gen Z homeowners, 48% said their home had worsened their wellbeing once mortgage repayments were factored in — far above the 14% of baby boomers who said the same.

The survey's director, Mansour Soltani, put the divide in plain terms: the housing debate usually focuses on who owns and who rents, but there is a second gap in how stressed each group feels about covering housing costs for the long haul. A large majority of owners still reported a wellbeing boost from owning, crediting the sense of agency it brings — but for Gen Z buyers stretching to get on the ladder, the repayments are eroding that benefit.

What This Means for Your Twenties

For Gen Z, these findings land in the middle of the decade's biggest life decisions: where to live, whether to move for work, when to start a family. If housing costs are already forcing a third of people to spend less on food, the classic advice to simply budget better misses the point — the math itself is broken for millions of renters. That lines up with other recent IRL Life coverage of young people rewriting the rules to survive high rents.

Still, there are moves that help at the margins. Housing experts generally suggest keeping housing costs under 30% of gross income; if yours run well above that, it is worth running the numbers on a roommate setup, a different neighborhood, or negotiating a renewal instead of accepting the increase. Build even a small emergency buffer before fun spending, and look up your local renter protections — many cities cap deposits, require notice periods, or offer free mediation. And if you are skipping medical care to make rent, community health centers and sliding-scale clinics exist precisely for that gap. Related reading: how Gen Z is using "soft hermitting" as a budget survival strategy.

"We cannot accept a future where people have to lower their expectations for what a home should provide," said Jonathan Reckford, Habitat for Humanity's chief executive, in the report's release. Housing costs have quietly become one of the defining pressures on young adult life — not just a money problem, but a health, family, and future problem. The sooner it is treated like one, the better.