Written by William Hale
New reports from the National Association of Realtors demonstrate how unaffordable California is for middle-class individuals and families. The housing situation looks similar in various SoCal cities like Los Angeles, Ventura, and of course San Diego, but the dual problems of inflated housing prices matched with incredibly low inventory extend up to northern California cities like San Francisco and San Jose.
Since the early months of 2020, more than 400,000 fewer homes are available for people earning an income of $75,000-$100,000, according to the NAR’s analysis. However, the same middle-class demographic has more affordable options in red states like Iowa, Texas, and Florida.
For example, Des Moines (IA) has 1,256 affordable listings, Deltona (FL) has 1,369, and 781 homes are available for those in the 75-100k range in McAllen (TX). San Diegans in that range have only 182 affordable listings according to NAR, and San Jose is even lower with an astonishing 30 affordable listings.
The bottom line is many California cities including San Diego have simply failed to build enough housing, especially considering the relatively steady economy over the past few decades. In a 2019 article for the Voice of San Diego, Andrew Keatts notes that San Diego county issued 25,000 permits for new homes year after year in the 70’s and 80’s, areas like Mira Mesa, Scripps Ranch, Rancho Peñasquitos and Carmel Valley were subsequently booming with new homes.
Now three decades later, Governments in San Diego have “struggled to issue even the 12,000 housing permits per year needed to keep up with population growth,” said Keatts.
If elected officials in Sacramento want to improve the housing unaffordability crisis, repealing counterproductive environmental regulation like the California Environmental Quality Act — a measure that can delay the production of new units for years — would be a good start.
Photo Cred: Getty Images/ iStock
