There are many reasons why California needs to address its critical housing shortage. The California Economic Summit has issued the challenge of building one million new housing units. The lack of affordable housing puts drag on the economy in many ways.
Dr. Raphael Bostic is the Judith and John Bedrosian Chair in Governance and the Public Enterprise at the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California. As housing becomes ever more expensive there are less resources in a household for necessities like education and health, Bostic told CA Fwd in an interview.
The issue is a national one, but more severe in California because of skyrocketing housing costs and low supply.
“Families are not facing such choices outside of California where housing isn’t as expensive,” Bostic said. “It’s a crisis mode.”
The former Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama Administration said there are multiple health consequences tied to housing like the health care risks that occur when one lives with an extended family because they can’t afford housing themselves or are living in a car.
The California Economic Summit has made it a top priority to build one million more homes for low- and middle-income Californians in the next 10 years. The 2016 Summit will be held in Sacramento December 13-14. You can contribute to the effort and register here.
