California Is Pricing My Generation Out of the California Dream

A STUDENT'S VIEW - California has always sold itself as a place of possibility a state where people come to build careers, raise families and create better lives. But for my generation, that promise is becoming harder to believe.

The reason is painfully simple: we increasingly cannot afford to live here.

New research highlighted by the Pew Charitable Trusts shows just how deeply California's housing crisis is connected to poverty. High housing costs account for a significant share of poverty in California, placing the state among the worst in the nation for housing-driven economic hardship.

That should change the way we think about this crisis. California does not simply have an affordability problem. We have reached the point where the cost of housing itself is helping push families into poverty.

For young Californians, this is not an abstract debate about zoning, density, development, or economics. It is about whether we will be able to build lives in the communities where we grew up.

We are told to study hard, earn degrees, work, save money and become independent. Yet even young adults who follow that path increasingly discover that a decent salary does not guarantee a decent place to live. Rent can consume such a large portion of a paycheck that saving for a home, starting a family or simply building financial security begins to feel unreachable.

That is not what opportunity is supposed to look like.

As a young Jewish student, I was raised to believe that a society has obligations to the people who live within it. Jewish tradition teaches us not to look away from hardship simply because it does not affect us personally. It asks us to recognize human dignity and our responsibility to one another.

There is a Jewish concept often described as tikkun olam repairing the world. But repairing the world cannot simply mean expressing compassion after people fall into poverty. It must also mean asking why so many people are being pushed toward poverty in the first place.

Housing must be part of that conversation.

The Pew analysis points to research showing that reducing housing costs could have a substantial effect on poverty. In California, the research estimated that a hypothetical 20 percent decline in rents could reduce overall poverty by roughly one-fifth and child poverty by approximately one-quarter.

Those are extraordinary numbers because they reveal something fundamental: housing policy is poverty policy.

It is also education policy. It is family policy. It is economic policy. And increasingly, it is generational policy.

When rent consumes too much of a family's income, something else has to give. Families have less money for groceries, transportation, medical expenses, children's activities, and savings. Young adults postpone moving out. Couples postpone marriage or children. Workers move farther from their jobs in search of affordable housing, adding longer commutes and more pressure to already crowded roads.

Eventually, some people simply leave.

California should be deeply concerned when the next generation begins concluding that the only way to build a middle-class life is to build it somewhere else.

There is no single solution. Building more housing alone will not eliminate poverty, and the lowest-income Californians will continue to need targeted assistance. Communities also have legitimate concerns about infrastructure, transportation, schools, public safety, water, wildfire risk, and neighborhood planning.

But acknowledging those concerns cannot become an excuse for accepting permanent scarcity.

California must be willing to examine the policies that make housing unnecessarily difficult or expensive to build. Permitting delays, restrictive land-use rules, excessive costs, and regulations that produce little corresponding public benefit deserve serious scrutiny. At the same time, the state must preserve existing affordable housing and protect vulnerable residents from displacement.

The goal should not be development at any cost. The goal should be something far more reasonable: making it possible for ordinary people to afford an ordinary life.

Because a home is not merely an economic unit.

It is where a child sits at the kitchen table doing homework. It is where parents come home after long shifts. It is where grandparents visit and families gather.

For Jewish families, it may be where we light Shabbat candles on Friday evening, share a meal, celebrate holidays, and pass traditions from one generation to the next.

Home is where community begins.

That is why California's housing crisis should concern people far beyond economists, developers, and elected officials. When families cannot afford homes, communities become less stable. When workers cannot afford to live near their jobs, cities become less sustainable. And when young people cannot imagine building their futures here, California risks losing something that cannot easily be measured in dollars.

It risks losing a generation.

My generation is not asking California to guarantee us luxury. We are asking for a realistic chance to work, contribute, raise families, and someday afford homes in the state we love.

That should not be considered an unreasonable dream.

California has spent generations telling the world that anything is possible here. Now it must prove that promise still applies to the young people growing up here.

Because if the California Dream requires leaving California to achieve it, then it is no longer much of a California Dream at all.

Shoshannah Kalaydjian is a young Jewish student who writes about education, identity, and the challenges facing the next generation. Growing up in today’s climate, she has witnessed firsthand how rising antisemitism affects young people in classrooms and on college campuses.  She is committed to sharing the perspectives of Jewish youth, amplifying student voices, and encouraging leaders to create safer, more inclusive environments for all students.