The Huffington Post-The Costs of Not Building Housing

By Toni G. Atkins
Posted: 05/29/2015 4:48 pm EDT Updated: 05/29/2015 8:59 pm EDT
When we talk about affordable housing, it's easy to get tangled in a debate over what and how much the government should do about the crisis. Certainly, the government can't solve the problem all by itself. It can help, and I've proposed a package of measures that, taken together, will create new housing opportunities for many struggling Californians.

As we discuss these proposals, it's important to keep in mind what's at stake if we don't increase the state's housing stock. The costs of the worsening shortage reach far beyond lack of shelter: A lack of housing is linked to every imaginable area of society -- the economy, criminal justice, education, social services, mental and physical health, roads and highways and even the changing climate. The consequences of doing nothing are dire.

As demand for housing rises, the price rises. Already, Californians devote more of their income to housing than do people elsewhere in the United States. The lower your income, the larger the portion of your pay goes to housing, topping out at two-thirds of income for the 25 percent of Californians on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder. Unless incomes rise for all workers, the portion of pay going to housing will continue to increase as the shortage worsens. Though the California economy is in recovery, family income is lagging.