Be the change you want to see in the world

Just looking at the start and end figure there, the number did something like double in inflation-adjusted terms, but in the US, new build house sizes (this not being specific to rentals, dunno if one can get that figure) also roughly doubled, and I'd expect costs to be something like linear in size of house. So my off-the-cuff take is that it's probably about reasonable.

That being said, Jimmy McMillan was specifically talking about rent in New York City when he did the "Rent is Too Damn High" thing, not rent across the US, and that is going to have a variety of other factors going on, including restrictions on construction, rent control, other regulations that specifically impact New York City, and I would guess transportation accessibility from outside New York City, to let that housing compete for people who work in New York City. It's very possible that New York City has local factors dominating and is doing other things.