The cost of living in Southern California is going to soar and no neighborhood is safe from rising rents and home prices.
"You have two options: either rents go up or we build more units," says economist Chris Thornberg, co-author of a new report from USC's Lusk Center for Real Estate.
He argues that policies and movements against dense developments will only exacerbate California's housing crisis.
"Because you didn't build those 2,500 high-end units," he says, "now those 2,500 families who can afford to live in [places like San Francisco] are going to gentrify one of your cherished working class neighborhoods."
"Part of our challenge," say co-author Raphael Bostic from USC, "is to create a narrative about who we are as California that acknowledges that it's the burden of prosperity, it's the burden of success that we all need to bear if we're going share in prosperity."
In a panel hosted by A Martinez on the release of the report, Bostic and Thornberg offered their own advice and predictions to the audience of real estate and housing professionals.