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Share via E-mailCalifornia was once a state where many people moved to follow their dreams and seek new opportunities. For decades, housing was affordable and jobs were plentiful.
But today, newcomers to California find increasingly unaffordable housing and rising costs for all kinds of goods. This has put a damper on the lifestyle that was once known as the “California dream.”
According to the California Policy Lab, the number of people moving into California has decreased by 8% since 2020. More people are moving out of California, too: the exit rate of residents has increased in 52 of the state’s 58 counties.
Tuyen Vu is amongst many of those who have left California and migrated to Texas to escape the inflating prices in the state.
Though Vu primarily moved because he’s in the military, he says he also chose to move due to the educational opportunities offered and says that financially, California was a little too much for him.
“In California, it was very stressful ‘cause the taxes play a big role in it,” Vu says. (Texas does not have an individual income tax.)
Dowell Myers, a professor of urban planning at USC’s Sol Price School of Public Policy, attributes this shift in population to a lack of apartments being built.
With affordable housing being so scarce throughout the state, Professor Myers says people try to double up on roommates to make ends meet in which they end up struggling later on trying to find a bigger apartment to live in. Myers believes this is where the process of considering leaving the state starts to take place.
“Airbnb is a problem too,” Myers adds. “They suck away real houses for real people and rent them out like it’s a hotel.”
According to the California Policy Law, the amount of people moving into California has decreased by 8% since 2020. However, California is not a total loss.
Henrik Minassians, a professor in CSUN’s Department of Urban Studies & Planning, says that although prices are high in the state, new job opportunities continue to draw people into California — and into urban areas. However, issues such as losing a job after performing jury duty can complicate this pursuit, making it essential for workers to understand their rights and protections in these situations.
“In the same tech sector, younger people are moving to communities that [before], no one wanted to live in, from Culver City to Inglewood,” Minassians says.
But moving to these sorts of neighborhoods is only a solution for people who can afford it. Redevelopment of houses and apartments in low-income communities often creates displacement.
Professor Minassians also says that developers are much more interested in buying land so that they can build what they want and create their own price tag; creating even more issues for sellers who want to move. Minassians says this shift has taken place in just the last two years or so.
“It’s not attainable for people to move because if you sell, you’re not gonna be able to buy something even with the profits that you have,” Minassians says. “So that has posed some serious challenges.”
Myers adds that because Los Angeles is so “unreachable” many individuals move into the inland areas. Minassians also adds that original renters in the area are being pushed out and even a decent income is no longer sufficient in the area.
This show was produced by Francisco Campos, Ruby Cordova & Jonathan Greenstein
