Published in The Desert Sun

The Coming Crisis in Apartments in Coachella Valley

When people talk about housing, they usually mean single family houses, owned by their occupants. But one third of Americans live in apartments, paying monthly rent. Housing policy hasn’t properly considered their legitimate concerns, and a crisis is shaping up.

America, and Coachella Valley, aren’t building enough apartments for our growing population. Even at the height of the boom in 2006, we built less housing than the growth in families as children became adults, started careers, got married and had children.

After the Crash in 2007, new building collapsed, but kids kept growing up. Goldman Sachs estimates that there are 2.7 million shadow households, adult kids living with their parents and room-mate situations. These people need apartments.

Coachella Valley is even more in need of apartments for its population than the rest of the U.S. in general. The Valley is an island, at great distance from other urban areas. Jobs in general here pay less than the rest of Riverside County. It doesn’t pay to commute to work here. Cities in Coachella Valley aren’t building apartments; building permits were declining even before 2007.

The living situation for the working class in Coachella Valley will become desperate in the coming years. New families, the working poor, and single parents will not be able to find decent, affordable housing within a reasonable distance of their jobs. Local cities must take a pro-active approach to finding creative solutions for this important segment of our society.

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