Who Can Afford to Rent in California's Many Regions in 2022?
As California’s housing crisis has deepened in recent years, more and more families have been affected, leading some state and local leaders to consider investing scarce resources to help the households earning at (or even above) the area median income (AMI). But what does the data show concerning the ability of households at each income level to afford market rents in different parts of the state?
A new California Housing Partnership analysis finds those households earning 100% of area median income (AMI)—can afford average asking rents in 55 of the 58 California counties while extremely low-income households (30% of AMI) cannot afford average asking rents in any county. Median-income households can afford modest rents in 81% of zip codes in California, with unaffordable zip codes primarily concentrated in Los Angeles County, the Central Coast, San Diego, and the Bay Area. The analysis concludes that state and local leaders should continue to prioritize scarce affordable housing resources for Californians at the lowest income levels first or risk further increasing the number of households living in poverty or without a home.
To learn more about the data contained in this report, please contact Matt Alvarez-Nissen (mnissen@chpc.net),Senior Research/Policy Associate at the California Housing Partnership.
To learn more about the policy recommendations contained in this report, contact Mark Stivers (mstivers@chpc.net), Director of Legislative and Regulatory Advocacy at the California Housing Partnership.
About the California Housing Partnership
The California Housing Partnership creates and preserves affordable and sustainable homes for Californians with low incomes by providing expert financial and policy solutions to nonprofit and public partners. Since 1988, the Partnership's on-the-ground technical assistance, applied research, and legislative leadership has leveraged $25 billion in private and public financing to preserve and create more than 75,000 affordable homes. | chpc.net
