Housing is now unaffordable in many rural parts of California

Source: KPCC Radio

Inland, rural parts of California are becoming increasingly unaffordable too, according to a new report by the McKinsey Global Institute. The report found it is nearly as expensive to live in Watsonville, a small farming community in Santa Cruz county, as it is in Los Angeles. Fifty-seven percent of households in the rural area of Santa Cruz-Watsonville are unable to afford the cost of housing.

In Salinas and Clearlake, which are also rural areas, 50 percent can’t afford the housing. “The affordability problem doesn’t really change when we move around the state,” said Jonathan Woetzel, director of the McKinsey Global Institute and a co-author of the study. “It’s now a whole state problem that requires a whole state solution.” He says one solution would be to simply build housing on the many vacant lots that are already zoned for new construction.