The panelists were coalition chair and former Assemblywoman Valerie Brown, National Bank of the Redwoods CEO Pat Kilkenny, Clark Blasdell of the North Bay Ecumenical Homes and builder Keith Christopherson. Let's start by quantifying the shortage of affordable housing in Sonoma County. The population has grown over the last decade by 17 percent. The number of jobs has grown by 19 percent, and the quantity of housing has grown by 12 percent. Over that same 10-year period, the price of an average house increased 83 percent.
Rental rates are equally high.
And one statistic that Valerie didn't mention is that at the same time that housing prices went up 83 percent, income went up 18 percent. It comes down to supply and demand. Our demand is so far in excess of our supply, it's doing a lot of damage, not only to the market, but to the social fabric of the county. We have a community that we're just opening up on Petaluma Hill Road. And we have 132 homes and four duplexes.