Job-Housing Balance

Balance Begins to Improve in the Sierra Nevada

Why is it important?

Communities must be able to plan for enough housing to meet demand. Otherwise, home values can skyrocket if demand exceeds supply for a long period of time as is happening in California. The California Building Industry Association estimated in 2004 that a housing shortage of approximately 500,000 homes and apartments existed in California.4 "This ongoing housing deficit has helped make California housing the least affordable in the nation."5 Community planners use he jobs-housing balance as a tool to determine if their area has enough housing planned in order to meet demand due to economic growth. An increase of non-working households such as those owned by retirees is another contributing factor affecting housing demand.

How are we doing?

The jobs-housing balance in the Sierra is characteristic of a region with many housing units owned by people without a local job, including retirees, commuters to other regions, and second-home owners. The balance has improved (approaching 1.0) in the North Central Sierra due to local job growth, although this trend stalled in 2001 when job growth weakened. California represents an average balance of 1.17 jobs per housing unit while even the North Central Sierra, with its stronger economic performance as shown in financial capital indicators, has more housing units than jobs.

4 California Building Industry Association. Regulatory Climate and Caused Underproduction. March 2004. http://www.cbia.org/index.cfm?pageid=623

5 Ibid. Homebuilding to Continue Strong in 2003. http://www.cbia.org/index.cfm?pageid=592

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