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The mortgage crisis that devastated the economy has received endless attention, but it's not just homeowners who have suffered badly in this economy.

As of 2012, renters made up 35 percent of American households. Their numbers are growing, reversing a decades-long uptick in homeownership.

And in the past 50 years, the percentage of income they're spending on the rent has increased dramatically. A quarter of renters are spending more than half their income on rent.

On a Wednesday night, just a few days before Fathers Day, a group of young men gather in a classroom on the fourth floor of Children's Hospital in Los Angeles. There's food — pizza, soda and cookies — and the men stack their paper plates high before settling into their seats around the table in the center of the room. The meeting is about to begin.

NPR's Arun Rath speaks with correspondent Leila Fadel in Erbil, Iraq, about the advance of forces from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, also known as ISIS.

Transcript

ARUN RATH, HOST:

It's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR West. I'm Arun Rath. For American soccer fans the wait is almost over. Tomorrow in Natal, Brazil the U.S. men's national team plays its first game of the World Cup. And it's a tough one - Ghana. The West African nation has walk knocked the US out of the last two World Cups. Joining me now from Natal to talk a little soccer strategy and weather is NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman. Tom, I here you've been getting a little bit of rain down there.

Pakistan has launched a major offensive against the Taliban in North Waziristan, mobilizing some 70,000 soldiers and launching air attacks against insurgents in the region.

Reporting from Islamabad, NPR's Philip Reeves tells our Newscast unit the offensive comes after militants stormed the Karachi airport a week ago, leaving 37 people dead.

Philip filed this report: