For those who are frustrated because they can’t buy their first house and start climbing the homeownership ladder, this housing shortage doesn’t fall under an academic title such as “market imbalance.” It isn’t being shrugged off as some temporary oddity where transactions aren’t working out now but just be patient, everything will be fine later. No, this housing shortage feels personal, hurtful and essentially permanent. It’s the nagging sense that something isn’t right. It’s the feeling that the system that everyone understood and lived by suddenly appears dysfunctional at the least and perhaps all but extinct in California. It’s the sinking notion that one of society’s big promises to every American in the past has been broken for them.
. . . Since this is a business publication, let’s state the obvious business impact: The housing shortage has been hard on our economy, and it seems destined to get worse. If you operate a business, you know it has been difficult for years to attract talent from outside the region because of high housing prices. But now, because of the added burden of the housing shortage, it is increasingly tough to keep talent here. And if family members of your key employees move outside the state, it will become harder to keep your key employees here. The housing shortage may well be California’s version of brain drain.
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