Chico renters are feeling the squeeze, and more than most Californians.
According to a recent study from Harvard University, Chico has the third highest percentage of severely cost-burdened renters in the state. One in three renters — 34% — now spend more than half their income on housing. That’s up from 32% last year.
"It would be nice to have more industry come into the area where there's better paying jobs, so people can afford the rent.”- Larry Guanzon, Butte County’s Housing Authority executive director
At the same time, the overall share of cost-burdened renters — those spending at least least a third of their income on rent — has dipped slightly. It fell from 58% to 56%, moving Chico from second to tenth place on the list of California’s most cost-burdened cities.
More renters are severely burdened, and earning less
It’s not just that rents are rising in Chico, incomes are falling, too.
Median rent in Chico has jumped by $100 over the past year, to $1,450 a month. Meanwhile, median income has dropped by $250 per month, to $40,000 per year, according to the study.
Larry Guanzon, the executive director of Housing Authority of Butte County, says part of the problem is Chico’s limited job market.
“Rents have increased dramatically,” Guanzon said. "It would be nice to have more industry come into the area where there's better paying jobs, so people can afford the rent.”
He says people living on a fixed income are especially being hit hard.
“I think, once again, as you're dealing with seniors, disabled, and you're dealing with students, too, right? So their income isn't as high in order to pay the high rent," Guanzon said.
Guanzon said one solution is increased government funding for housing, which could help ease the pressure on renters, especially those with lower incomes.
Chico’s housing crisis reflects a national trend
The rental affordability crisis isn’t just a local issue, it’s growing nationwide and housing experts are alarmed.
Alexander Hermann, one of the researchers behind the Harvard study, says severe rent burden forces people to make tough trade-offs in every part of life.
There’s a saying in housing circles, he noted: “rent eats first.”
“Households who are families that face these affordability conditions spend less on food, they spend less on transportation, they spend less on childcare, they spend less on their savings,” he said. “So it's not just about housing.”
“There’s a clear and obvious connection between the affordability challenges we’ve experienced over the last handful of years and the number of people who end up experiencing the kinds of worse-case housing outcomes that are possible.”- Alexander Hermann, Harvard study researcher
The study also found a sharp drop in how much money low-income renters have left over each month after paying rent.
Hermann says the affordability crisis is directly linked to rising homelessness and housing instability.
“There’s a clear and obvious connection between the affordability challenges we’ve experienced over the last handful of years and the number of people who end up experiencing the kinds of worse-case housing outcomes that are possible,” he said.
He’s concerned things could get worse, especially if federal support shrinks.
“Potential cuts or even stagnation or any kind of withdrawal in federal funding for housing — especially for lower-income households — would happen at the absolute worst moment when these households have the greatest possible needs for these things,” he said.
Hermann says communities with a high percentage of cost-burdened renters would benefit from building more housing and implementing local assistance programs.
