Our Stories

I am a single mother of six beautiful girls. We are currently living with my children's grandfather, where my girls and I share two bedrooms. I am grateful for the help he has given us, but my girls ask me daily if we our ever going to have our own home. It tears me apart because I can't give them a honest answer. I hurt inside so badly, because I know they dream of one day having a place to call their own -- a place to put their personal belongings. What they really wish for is to one day have their very own beds, but there just aren't enough safe places to live that are affordable to single mothers with children. -- Lorraine Fimbres, La Habra, California

My wife and I have a house. We bought in 2002. We couldn't afford the same house we live in now though because it would be worth over $500k. The crazy part about that is she's a lawyer making lots of money and I work in the tech industry doing well there as well.

Our house is simple, a simple 2 bedroom one bath house. Across the street, a year or so ago, there was a driveby so we're not in the safest neighborhood but it's pleasant.

Affordable housing needs to be a priority. I grew up here and my friends are struggling and frankly so are we. People should be able to make $50 - 75k a year and be able to afford a house, they shouldn't have to be making $250 - $300k for a 2 bedroom 1 bath house that needs work!!!

The way to solve this is for the government to step in and create incentives for building affordable housing and no more of the luxury condominium developments.

The Bay Area has to provide affordable housing or the standard of living for everyone will get worse -- increase in crime, illegal activity, homelessness, etc.

As an adult who has "played by the rules" my whole life, there are many descriptions I identified with living in the bay area: College-educated. Check. Hard-working. Check. High-tech marketing manager. Check. Low-income. What? Low-income?! But I made a decent wage! Or did I? According to statistics for the Santa Clara County, I was a low-income earner. No wonder I couldn't afford an apartment near my job. I was priced out of the market.

I often thought, as a single woman with a decent job and no children, if I couldn't afford a decent place to live near my job, how were others making it? Women with children. Families with parents earning minimum wage. Recent college graduates. Seniors. I mean, these are people's grandparents, for crying out loud. I couldn't stand the thought of the extremes people must be going to just to put a roof over their heads. Cramped conditions with other families. Working multiple jobs. Choosing between meds or rent. Food or rent.

I was priced out of the rental market. And homeownership? Forget about it. The only way I was going to buy a house was to move back to Sacramento. So I did. And I commuted back to the bay area, spending 12 hours a week (one-and-a-half work days) in my car, doing my fair share to destroy the environment and leaving me exhausted by week end. Time for family and friends? Nope. Time to volunteer? No way. Just time to take care of my house, yard, and run errands before the week started all over again. After three years, I was fortunate enough to find a job that would allow me to pay my mortgage and help increase home affordability for Californians.

The bottom line? California simply doesn't have enough permanently affordable homes. When you look at the types of people who need them, there's no denying that the housing crisis is affecting all Californians -- directly or indirectly. Government does have a role in fixing the broken housing market, before more people end up thinking  -- as I did  -- "So much for playing by the rules."

Everyone needs a home, it's a human need. It has nothing to with rights. Affordability is beyond most people's grasp especially those of us on a fixed income. We desire more than anything else to have an independent structure that we can call our own, pay our own expenses, be hospitable. We're in a slum surrounded by drunks, smokers of all things foul, and a landlord whom doesn't care about any of us. We worked hard in our younger lives but are now pain-disabled and have nothing to show for our hard work. We have self-respect, dignity and integrity. We need help to have a real, live home, there is no family to assist us.

When I was a child my father was upwardly mobile in the Pacific Bell company and we moved frequently. Then divorce upended my family and we moved again. So when I had my own children I had a strong desire to provide them with more stability. I know how disruptive it is to a child's school career to change schools and neighborhoods. Frequent moves can also make it difficult for children to form healthy friendships. Fortunately when we did choose a home, we selected a lovely 1300 square foot house that we've been able to afford through good and bad economic times. We lived there for more than 20 years and we know our neighbors and are part of the community. Whether you rent or buy, the cost of a home should not bankrupt your life in other ways - either through the constant disruption of trying to find a more affordable place to live or the stress of making the monthly rent or mortgage and having to make hard choices in the family budget. When I look at the market and what they are building in my suburban neighborhood - I don't see affordable options like my home available to families today for rent or purchase. This is having a direct impact on the schools as fewer school age children are living in the neighborhood. It also makes it less likely that my children - who are almost independent adults - are less likely to live near me.