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# L.A., Ventura counties face a serious housing shortage
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/l-a-ventura-counties-face-a-serious-housing-shortage/
- Published: 2007-01-31T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T23:58:35.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Real Estate & Housing, Santa Monica, #archive-import

these numbers translate into a combined unmet demand of 76 percent (59 percent in Los Angeles County). The ever-growing population has posed other serious problems for Southern California residents, including a strained transportation structure, overcrowded schools and worsened air pollution.

As the underlying trend of rising demand continues to outstrip the supply, prices will continue to escalate, making housing even less and less affordable, especially for first-time buyers.

The study predicts that the long-term housing trend will continue to skyrocket in price.

“Construction rates have actually been higher in recent years,” Schroeder said. “But still not high enough to reach the population demand. We’ve fallen behind and will continue to do so” until something changes.

There is difficulty in building homes and finding appropriate locations to do so. It may take up to 10 years just to get a permit, said Schroeder. Mortgage rates and pricing are dependently driven by the excess of demands in relation to supply.

“We need to build more homes at a range of housing types and prices to accommodate the ever-increasing diversity of our population,” Schroeder said.

While immigration is an important source for population growth, the natural increase of births each year most greatly affects the demand for homes. Immigration poses the need for immediate housing, while the number of births will add to the increased size of existing homes and the high household demands over the coming decades.

“The most significant contributor is our birth rate, which is higher than our death rate. Our children are growing up and will need homes of their own,” Schroeder said. “We’re not building at the same levels of the population’s growth and, therefore, not plan-ning for the future.

“We need to look at a variety of solutions,like infill development and use of property we already have,”Schroeder continued.“We have to consider creative solutions to address this problem.”

The study calls for an overall boost to housing supplies in LA and Ventura counties, streamlining the planning and permitting processes, addressing infrastructure needs and supporting bold leadership from committed elected officials.

“With such restricted supply,” Schroeder said, “we are clearly not meeting the demand for future.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 31, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/013107.pdf?ref=smdp.com)