Council Continues Push for Landmark Housing Reform

California’s epic housing crisis is hurting more than lower- and middle-income working families struggling to find housing they can afford. It’s also threatening to derail landmark greenhouse gas reduction laws that for a decade have made California a global leader in the battle against climate change, according to a white paper released this week (Aug. 9) by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute.

The report – Another Inconvenient Truth – finds that California is failing to meet key carbon reduction targets at the same time the state’s housing shortage is forcing more and more workers to endure longer and longer commutes. More than 100,000 Bay Area megacommuters travel 90 minutes or more every day to reach their jobs, contributing to a 78 percent increase since 1990 in the number of megacommuters crossing county and regional boundaries to get to work. Automobiles account for a significant portion of the state’s carbon emissions. Read Another Inconvenient Truth>>

The report comes as the Bay Area Council works with the Southern California Leadership Council and coalition of other partners statewide to press leaders in Sacramento to resume talks that broke down this week in Sacramento on a bill to enact reforms proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown that would fast track new urban infill housing. Read the Council’s statement>>

The Council this week also released a new video produced with the help of member company MSL Group that tells the painful story of the state’s housing crisis through the voices of several young workers who live in expensive, overcrowded conditions and doubt they will ever be able to afford a home. Watch the video>>