There are plenty of people who live below or at this income in Providence or Woonsocket and presumably bought before 2020. I know plenty of people who bought a house in the low-to-mid 200s on one (reasonable) income in areas like Cranston and Warwick as recently as 2020 and plenty who did FHA where they needed very little money down.

It's easy to look at things now and cast blame, but the kids look pretty old from the thumbnail and I doubt the family figured they'd ever be in this position back then since it's not like they lived in a notably HCOL state.