On this edition of Your Call, we'll find out why rents and housing prices are soaring beyond reach. While supply isn’t keeping up with demand, wages aren’t keeping up with rising housing costs.
The national median rent has increased by over 11 percent so far this year, according to Apartment List. Millions of renters could soon face eviction, as the Supreme Court recently struck down the Biden administration's eviction moratorium.
As of June, median existing-home sales prices are up 23 percent from a year earlier. The median home costs almost five times the median household income — pricier than in the run up to the 2008 housing crash, according to Harvard researchers.
Later in the show, we'll discuss two new zoning bills in California, which supporters say will tackle that state’s housing crisis by building more housing. What will it take to ensure that affordable housing exists?
Guests:
Conor Dougherty, economics reporter at The New York Times with a focus on the West Coast, real estate and wage stagnation, and author of Golden Gates: Fighting for Housing in America
Elizabeth Kneebone, research director for the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley
Web Resources:
The New York Times, Conor Dougherty and Glenn Thrush: Rising Housing Costs Leave Homebuyers Struggling
The Washington Post, Heather Long: Rent prices are spiking in Phoenix, Las Vegas and elsewhere as Americans return to cities
CNBC, Alicia Adamczyk: Why rent is about to go up again
The New York Times, Alan Rappeport, Sophie Kasakove and Conor Dougherty: Supreme Court’s Decision Opens Door to Millions of Evictions
The New York Times, Conor Dougherty: California Advances Zoning Measure to Allow Duplexes
SacBee, David Garcia: Will Senate Bill 9 change your California neighborhood? Probably not in the way you think