More Americans are struggling to make the rent

Surging rents, a dearth of affordable housing, mounting competition for apartments from wealthier renters. Welcome to the American housing market's new normal.

About half of renters across the US are cost-burdened, meaning more than one-third of their income goes to their landlord, according to a recent study from Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies.

And in a shift from previous era, it's not only lower-income households feeling the financial strain. Among Americans earning $45,000 to $75,000 a year, about 23 percent are cost-burdened -- that's nearly double the share in 2001, the study found.

As a result, many middle-class families are feeling the squeeze, especially in cities where they're priced out of the housing market. The U.S. homeless population is growing for the first time since the recession ended in 2010, a phenomenon that's especially acute in expensive cities such as San Francisco.

Ellen James-Penney, an English professor at San Jose State University, told CBS News housing costs eat up three-quarters of her monthly income. Her solution was to live in her car, she said.

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