When rent went from $900 to $1,250, single mother forced into affordable housing search

It was in a low-income neighborhood and not as nice as the middle-class home they had left. "It was run down, a piece of crap," she said. There were police sirens at night and more crime than she expected when she signed the lease.

"There was a man hiding in our bushes one night, and then the SWAT team was out there another time to arrest a guy," she said. "It was crazy."

It was also cheap living in Bloomington, where finding a decent two-bedroom apartment or rental house for less than $1,000 a month is a challenge.

Places to live:Less than 10% of rentals in Bloomington are under $1,000 a month. Here's a few of them.

According to the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, renters in the Bloomington Metropolitan Statistical Area struggle more with high-cost burdens than renters in any other area in the state.