California is one of the markets where the housing crisis is most pronounced, and is taking a toll on its residents. Linda Wang and Kirk Siegler profile a Los Angeles couple, Jimmy Mejia and Patty Garrido who are parents to four--and soon-to-be-five children--in this NPR article, which follows the family as they try to find new housing in an unaffordable market.
For the past four years Mejia and Garrido have paid $1,600 for a cramped three bedroom apartment in the southern part of the city. After learning they would be evicted due to the sale of the building, the couple started to frantically search for a new place to live, a task that proved difficult for the two pizza restaurant managers in a town exploding with gentrification and rising housing prices.
"Everything is so expensive," Garrido said. "We saw a house, it was only three bedrooms and it was $3,800." While Mejia and Garrido considered moving 60 to 70 miles outside the city, where the housing is cheaper, their commute would take hours and they have only one car. Mejia and Garrido know they're living right on the brink of homelessness, even though they're both employed and can afford to pay their bills and make rent.
Their crisis is not unique. In Los Angeles, 600,000 people are considered "severely rent burdened," which means they spend half their income on rent. More than 8,000 people became homeless here for the first time last year, according to the 2017 Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority report. A recent Zillow study showed that for every 5 percent increase in rent in Los Angeles, nearly 2,000 people could become homeless.
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