The entire state of California has a pretty severe housing shortage and the high costs of housing are driving out people who work necessary low-skill jobs, but that's across the whole state. What about a little closer to home, in the Los Angeles metro area? New findings from the NYU Furman Center and CapitalOne do not paint a rosy at all picture of the LA rental scene, unfortunately.
The report, which looked at 11 of the nation's largest metro areas, found that greater LA renters are the second most burdened by their rent (both moderately and severely), with a depressing 60 percent of renters paying more than 30 percent of their income (moderate burden) towards housing.
The share of households who were paying 50 percent of their income or more toward their gross rent (and are therefore considered severely rent burdened) rose from 29 percent in 2006 percent to 33 percent in 2014—"a larger increase than in any other metro area we studied," says the report. Kicking in a larger share of income towards rent means there's less to go around for other expenses, like education, healthcare, or—dream of dreams—saving money.
Greater LA's gross median rent was the third highest of the 11 large metros surveyed; only San Francisco and Washington, DC had higher medians. Renters' incomes, though, were just the fifth highest of the 11 metro areas.
Which, overall, made Los Angeles the second least affordable of all the metros surveyed. In 2014, only 21 percent of recently available units were affordable to the median renter household in the greater LA area—"a lower share than in all but one of the metro areas in our study."
A big part of the issue is that wages still aren't keeping up with rents, says the report, making units more out of reach to renters. And "when renters struggle to find an affordable unit on the market, they are more likely to remain in housing that is overcrowded or too expensive." And they're definitely not planning on buying a house.
- NYU Furman Center / Capital One National Affordable Rental Housing Landscape [Official site]
- High Housing Costs Are Driving Californians Out in Droves [Curbed LA]
- Here's How Serious California's Housing Shortage Has Gotten [Curbed LA]
- 58.5 Percent of Los Angeles Renters Can't Afford Their Rent[Curbed LA]
- Los Angeles Has the Biggest Disconnect in the US Between Wages and Rents [Curbed LA]
Loading comments...