Market Watch: Who can afford a home? Roughly 60% of the U.S. could be frozen out of starter homes, warns S&P

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Market Watch: Who can afford a home? Roughly 60% of the U.S. could be frozen out of starter homes, warns S&P

July 20, 2022 – Suzanne Dershowitz, staff attorney at Public Advocates, was quoted in a Market Watch article by Joy Wiltermuth, about how buying a first house could get much harder for middle-income, and especially lower-income households.

Suzanne Dershowitz, a staff attorney at Public Advocates, said that while the affordability crisis isn’t new, “We are seeing consolidation of massive profits in the hands of a few, at the expense of communities of color.” The nonprofit California law firm and advocacy group focuses on housing, education and climate justice for low-income communities and people of color. “What all this data shows is that our housing policies need to treat housing as a basic human need,” she said by phone. “Government regulation needs to focus on people, rather than housing as a commodity.”

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Newsweek: California Housing Market Could Change Under New Bill

Even in cities building housing at scale, lower-income renters are being left behind and paying more. Newsweek reports on Public Advocates' co-sponsorship of SB 1091, a bill that would convert existing market-rate units into long-term affordable homes—putting state resources directly in the hands of the communities hardest hit by decades of redlining and disinvestment.

SF GATE: Calif.’s newest homelessness solution is letting college kids sleep in their cars

Public Advocates' Director of Legislative Affairs Michelle Pariset, speaks to the Sacramento Bee about this year's unusually hard advocacy to get stronger protections for renters in the most expensive state to rent, particularly as legislators speak out about making affordability concerns top priority.