The data below shows the impact the housing crisis is having on your neighbors and how these conditions contribute to your community's housing needs.
For most Californians, especially in the Bay Area, the largest share of their monthly income goes to housing. Those who contribute more than 30% of their gross income on housing are considered “rent burdened” according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. And those who pay more than 50% of their gross income on housing are considered “Severely Rent Burdened”.
Nearly half of all Bay Area renters are rent-burdened, and 60% of Black and 55% of Latino renters are rent-burdened. Because so much of our rent-burdened neighbors’ gross income goes towards paying rent, that leaves less room for paying for other goods and services like warm clothes and nightly dinners. Lowering the amount a household pays for housing increases the budget for other essential needs, which will eventually lead to saving money overall and potentially building wealth.
Gentrification risk shows the risk level of low-income households by race/ethnicity and their likelihood of being displaced from their community. The gentrification status of communities include: gentrifying community, at risk of gentrification, stable community or exclusive community.
According to the Bay Area Equity Atlas, during housing booms, market rents rise fastest in low-income neighborhoods that are in proximity to higher income neighborhoods. Many low-income communities of color, which have historically suffered economic neglect and disinvestment, are now at risk for rapidly rising rents due to gentrification.
Neighborhood opportunity measures the amount of wealth and resources in a community and includes the following neighborhood opportunity categories from lowest to highest resources: high segregation & poverty, low resource, moderate resource, high resource, and highest resource.
According to the Bay Area Equity Atlas, historic policies barred low-income people of color from accessing housing in places with greater opportunities. Discriminatory policies like redlining, restrictive covenants, and exclusionary zoning promoted racial segregation – entrenching racial disparities in access to well-resourced neighborhoods. Other policies systematically destroyed the wealth of communities of color. Starting in the 1950s, cities used “urban renewal” to justify demolishing the homes of Black families and to build public amenities meant to attract White residents.