Employed

Per Capita Income

Above Poverty

Economic

Preschool Enrollment

Bachelor's Education

High School Enrollment

Education

Voting

Census Response

Social

Automobile Access

Active Commuting

Transportation

Insured Adults

Healthcare Access

Retail Density

Park Access

Tree Canopy

Neighborhood

Severely Cost Burdened Low-Income Renters

Severely Cost Burdened Low-Income Homeowners

Housing Habitability

Uncrowded Housing

Homeownership

Housing

Ozone

Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5)

Diesel Particulate Matter

Safe Drinking Water

Clean Environment

Extreme Heat

Impervious Surfaces

Outdoor Workers

Public Transit Access

Sea Level Rise

Two Parent Households

Alcohol Availability

Supermarket Access

Decision Support

People should be able to live in housing with enough space for everyone living there. Uncrowded housing can improve mental health including stress and depression; decrease the spread of communicable diseases like tuberculosis; and improve children’s wellbeing and educational outcomes. Crowded housing conditions generally occur when households are paying more than they can afford (often defined as 30% of their income) for housing (see 

). Faced with difficult choices, households may choose to save money by living with others, which can create crowded living situations. They may experience unhealthy, poor-quality housing with limited use of utilities, skip routine check-ups or wait to seek healthcare, and buy lower cost food. With budgets stretched to the breaking point, households also experience housing insecurity and are vulnerable to displacement from their homes and neighborhoods. Housing instability, crowding and homelessness are associated with: low birth weights, depression, behavioral problems, and educational delays for children; asthma, tuberculosis, and other communicable diseases; skipped meals and medical appointments or medication; social isolation; and loss of political voice.

 When low-income residents are forced to leave high cost areas, they often leave behind places rich with opportunity, and may need to commute long distances, straining budgets and worsening air quality and climate change.

This indicator measures the percentage of households that have one or more rooms per person in their living space. This measure is often used as a standard for crowding.

A high proportion of crowded households can indicate can high housing costs, low incomes, or both.

UC Berkeley Urban Displacement Project, “Gentrification, Displacement and the Role of Public Investment: A Literature Review,” March 3, 2015, http://iurd.berkeley.edu/uploads/Displacement_Lit_Review_Final.pdf.

United States Census. American Community Survey, 2015 One Year Estimates.

“The Family Economic Self-Sufficiency Standard for California | Insight,” accessed January 10, 2017, http://www.insightcced.org/past-archives/insight-networks/building-economic-security-for-all-besa/californians-for-economic-security-cfes/the-self-sufficiency-standard-for-california/.

UCLA and UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education, “Enforcing City Minimum Wage Laws In California: Best Practices and City-State Partnerships,” 2015, : http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/pdf/2015/minimum-wage-enforcement.pdf; U.S. Department of Labor, “The Social and Economic Effects of Wage Violations: Estimates for California and New York,” December 2014.

San Francisco Department of Public Health and Health Impact Partners, “A Health Impact Assessment of the California Healthy Families, Healthy Workplaces Act of 2008,” July 2008, http://www.humanimpact.org/downloads/healthy-workplaces-act-report-2008/.

Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative, “Displacement Brief” (Oakland, February 2012), http://barhii.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/BARHII-displacement-brief.pdf.

U.S. Census Bureau, “American Community Survey, 1 Year Estimates”, 2016.

Apartment List, “June 2016 California Apartment List Rent Report”. June 2016, https://www.apartmentlist.com/rentonomics/california-rent-report-rentonomics/

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, “Preserving Affordable Rental Housing: A Snapshot of Growing Need, Current Threats, and Innovative Solutions,” Evidence Matters, Summer 2013, https://www.huduser.gov/portal/periodicals/em/summer13/highlight1.html.

California Legislative Analyst's Office. (2015, March 17). California’s High Housing Costs: Causes and Consequences. Retrieved from https://lao.ca.gov/reports/2015/finance/housing-costs/housing-costs.aspx

Ensuring uncrowded housing requires a range of policy responses designed to make housing more affordable and stable, and to ensure that residents are economically secure.

 to protect residents who might be forced into crowded conditions or make other unhealthy tradeoffs to pay for housing. Areas with high housing cost burdens, crowding, poverty and low educational attainment, per capita incomes and homeownership are often more vulnerable to displacement, particularly when they are in, or close to, hot real estate markets, transit, and jobs centers. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have developed methodologies for understanding displacement risk and dynamics in the Bay Area and Los Angeles County. These easy to use tools 

. For residents who are no longer housed, it is also important to 

Jurisdictions should also act quickly to 

. Relative to new production, these strategies can be extremely cost effective, and quickly improve conditions for residents. Consult your jurisdiction’s Housing Element, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) data, and local homeless counts (if available) for more information about local housing conditions, partner with local community based organizations, affordable housing developers/residents, and other to identify community housing needs, and target policies and programs accordingly.

Over the long term, jurisdictions should 

. Between 1980 and 2010 decades, California metropolitan areas produced approximately half (120,000/year) of the housing necessary to keep costs on par with the rest of the country,

 and have been especially unsuccessful in producing housing affordable to low-income households. Consult your local housing element and Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) for more information about housing production relative to need.

In addition to the housing policies above, jurisdictions should also reduce crowding by improving residents’ economic security so they have more housing choices. Specifically, decision-makers can craft policies to 

. For more detailed information on these economic policies see: Above Poverty, Employed, and Median Income.

Ensure that individuals and families have access to safe, affordable, high-quality housing during public health and climate emergencies. 

Health

Equity

Emerging

Provide Rent and Mortgage Payment Relief

Sufficient Evidence

Enact Moratoria on Evictions, Foreclosures, and Sweeps of Encampments

Convert Vacant Units into Safe Homes

Climate

Best Practice

Provide Utilities as a Public Good

Help lift whole communities economically, so they can afford safe, stable, uncrowded housing and healthy lives.

Worker Cooperative Support Initiatives (Emerging Practice)

Promising

Industrial Land Preservation Strategies 

Community Power and Connection

Small Business Retention Initiatives

Middle-Wage Job Creation Strategies 

Raise workplace standards and wages to ensure that workers have jobs that allow them to afford safe, stable, uncrowded housing and healthy lives.

Paid Sick Day Policies

Wage Theft Policies

Minimum Wage Ordinances

Living Wage Ordinances

Expand the range of affordable housing in places where housing costs are high.

Seek Additional Funding Sources

Inclusionary Zoning Policies

Healthy Neighborhoods

Density Bonuses, Incentive Zoning, and Public Benefit Zoning Policies

Accessory Dwelling Unit and Detached Dwelling Unit Policies

Residential and Commercial Impact Fees or Linkage Fees

Physical Activity

Public Health Development Fee

Lower Development Barriers

Invest in Quality Housing for Farmworkers

Vacant or Underutilized Public Land

Ensure that people have pathways and training to good jobs that allow them to afford safe, stable, uncrowded housing and healthy lives.

First Source/Local Hiring Ordinances

Strong Evidence

Job-Focused Basic Skill Training Programs

Industry Driven, Sector-Based Training Programs

Paid Job Training and Placement Programs for Groups that Face Barriers to Employment

Protect residents who might be forced to accept crowded conditions or make other unhealthy tradeoffs to pay for housing, or who are at risk of being displaced

Rent Control/Stabilization Ordinances

Relocation Benefits

Emergency Rental Assistance Programs

Just Cause Eviction Ordinances

Enact Anti-Displacement Measures

Emergency Homeowner Assistance/Foreclosure Prevention Programs

Preserve and improve existing housing to ensure that that all residents have healthy, uncrowded housing, and that affordable housing stays affordable. Preserving housing is far less expensive than building new housing.

One for One Replacement (No-Net-Loss)

Pollution

Homeowner Rehabilitation Programs

Second Unit Amnesty Programs

Preservation/Acquisition/Rehabilitation/Conversion Programs

Mobile Home Preservation Programs

Condominium Conversion Ordinances

Community Land Trusts

Rent Review and/or Mediation Boards

Single Room Occupancy Preservation Ordinances

Rental Rehabilitation Programs

Weatherization Programs

Proactive Rental Inspection/Code Enforcement

Crowded housing is often indicative of areas with high rates of homelessness. Ensure that people without homes have the housing and services they need—especially in places where housing is crowded, unstable or difficult to afford.

Hygiene and Storage Centers (Emerging Practice)

Discharge Policies

Supportive Housing

Rapid Re-Housing Policies/Programs

Crisis Response

Housing First Policies/Programs

Decriminalizing Homelessness

Help families build and maintain wealth so that they can afford safe, stable, uncrowded housing and healthy lives, and save for their futures and children.

Policy Guide

Uncrowded Housing

References