The Associated Press
Angel Garcia, a single father approved for a mortgage loan of $300,000, had high hopes in early 2020 of finding a house he could afford in his hometown of Stamford, Connecticut.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Within months, New Yorkers began fleeing the city and the surrounding area, snapping up houses. Home prices that already had been out of reach for many jumped higher. Garcia, who oversees security at Stamford’s government building, ended the year still living with his 3-year-old daughter in a Stamford rental.
“It’s so hard with all the competition out here and the prices, as they are now. They were already expensive,” said Garcia, who has a second job as a security guard.