The reason why California faces a housing affordability crisis is simple, many experts say: Lots of people want to live in the state and there aren’t enough houses for them.
“You don’t need a PhD in economics to understand this,” said Christopher Thornberg, an economist who recently published a report on state housing costs with the nonpartisan organization Next 10. “It’s basic supply and demand.”
The lack of housing supply fuels headlines that reveal the state’s housing problems at their starkest. It could explain why doctors and others making as much as $250,000 a year are struggling to find homes in Palo Alto. And why a firefighter in Menlo Park — home to Facebook — said he decided to commute four hours to work from Reno, Nev., because he was unable to find an affordable place nearby to maintain his standard of living.
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