Safe(ish) neighborhoods for working class folks. (lease, safe neighborhoods)

[madamey]

We have been living in KCMO for a minute and we want to move when our lease is up. We are currently living in Waldo and are renting way below the market rate here (at a cost, trust me). However, things in KC have changed drastically since I lived here previously nearly a decade ago, and finding affordable housing in what I would traditionally consider being relatively safe neighborhoods is becoming nearly impossible. My fiance and I both work in the core on 2nd shift schedules and we share a car, so suburbs are out of the question. Although KC seems safer overall than it used to be, I know that there are still extremely difficult areas. Are there any neighborhoods left in KC that are relatively safe and affordable? Are the neighborhoods directly east of Waldo too sketchy to give a shot? Also, why is rent rising so quickly out of seemingly nowhere?