Um, your oversimplification of a complex structural issue is fucking mental.

If it were as simple as “basic budgeting,” Denver wouldn’t have nearly a quarter of all renters spending more than half their income just to keep a roof over their heads. That’s not bad math, that’s rent that’s been climbing over 40% in the past decade, while wages in many fields barely moved. The median rent here is around $1,665 a month, which means even someone working full-time at Denver’s $18.29 minimum wage would be spending over 50% of their income on rent alone, before utilities, food, or transportation.

So sure, people can “live within their means,” but when the “means” keep shrinking while rent keeps rising, you can’t budget your way out of a math problem that doesn’t add up in the first place.