Finding an affordable place to live in California is already a difficult task. Experts say the economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak may make it even harder.
With a deficit of 1.3 million homes for low-income households, the state has been working to combat its affordable housing crisis.
But with a growing number of people filing for unemployment daily as the coronavirus wreaks havoc on the economy, experts say the demand for affordable housing is likely to rise, the Los Angeles Times reports.
With a weakened economy due to the coronavirus, governments will likely see a dip in tax revenue. With less money coming in, the state will have a shortage of funding to allocate toward affordable housing projects.
According to the Los Angeles Times, California leads the nation in the cost of building government-subsidized apartment complexes for low-income residents.
A recent report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office listed California as the most expensive place to build in the country. The study compared California to New York City and 10 other major cities and states.
That means the cost of an “affordable” place to live in the state can sometimes total upward of $1 million.
The newspaper’s analysis indicates that it isn’t just the cost of buying land or rising expense of construction materials contributing to the large price tags of homes. It also has to do with rules that require developers to meet stringent labor labs and environmental standards that are costly.
Carolina Reid, faculty research adviser at UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation, told the L.A. Times that the coronavirus, “Adds more urgency to making the reforms we had already needed.”
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