For too long, for too many Californians, housing has been too expensive. Currently, a majority of California renters are paying an unaffordable share (more than 30 percent) of their income on rent and utilities. Statewide, one in four renters spends more than half their income on rent and utilities. The number of California residents who are unhoused is at a record high, with the latest federal estimate putting the number at 181,000.
Californians have become accustomed to the state’s housing affordability crisis. Perhaps too accustomed. It wasn’t always this way.
In 1970, when the California Dream was still in reach for many, more than half of households (55%) owned their own homes. Among those who rented, two-thirds lived in affordable homes.
This environment of widespread housing affordability began to change during the 1970s. Although the homeownership rate overall remained stable, the share of California renters paying an unaffordable percentage of income on rent and utilities soared.
(By standard measures, people are considered “rent burdened” or “cost burdened” if they spend more than 30 percent of household income on housing costs and “severely rent burdened” or “severely cost burdened” if they spend more than 50 percent of household income on housing costs. For renters, costs include rent and utilities.)
