As a bankruptcy attorney, New Jersey Assemblymember Dan Hutchison said he sees clients “all the time” whose betting on football and baseball quickly leads to missed car payments, delinquent mortgages and, ultimately, bankruptcy.

Half of construction site workers in Asheville earn less than the $59,840 needed to rent a one-bedroom apartment and civil engineers earning nearly $100,000 a year find it difficult to afford a home in the city, according to a recent report by the National Housing Conference titled “Priced Out: When a good job isn’t enough.”