One Million Home Shortage in Southern California

Southern California is experiencing a shortage of nearly one million affordable homes, as the region’s five counties are battling a harrowing rise in rents, a decline in incomes and an all-around housing shortage.

According to the Daily Bulletin, the nonprofit California Housing Partnership Corporation report, released on Monday, found that Southern California’s five-county area needs 949,016 more affordable rental units to meet the needs of families earning 50 percent or less of the median household income.

The data are drawn from the latest “housing needs” assessment by the state-sponsored agency which was created to preserve affordable housing and advise leaders on housing policies.

Los Angeles County needs 551,807 more affordable units; Orange County reportedly needs 109,965 more affordable units; Riverside County needs 66,209 more affordable units; San Bernardino County needs 78,983 more affordable units; and San Diego County needs 142,052 affordable units.

Earlier this month, the California Housing Partnership Corporation issued a similar report showing a shortage of more than 134,000 affordable homes in four counties surrounding San Francisco: Alameda, San Mateo, Contra Costa and Sonoma counties.

Last year, Breitbart News reported that crippling home prices, traffic congestion, high taxes and the rising cost of living were contributing to “net outward migration” from California, and more specifically in the Bay Area.

“They are tired of the expense of living here,” certified moving consultant Scott McElfresh, told the San Jose Mercury News at the time. “They are tired of the state of California and the endless taxes here.”

Earlier this year, a poll released by the Bay Area Council found that approximately 46 percent of the Bay Area’s millennial residents are looking to exit the increasingly unlivable Bay Area region.

That figure was up by 12 percent from last year’s report from the Bay Area Council which found that 34 percent of residents wanted to exit.

Adelle Nazarian is a politics and national security reporter for Breitbart News. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.