Earthquakes don't shake Californians.

Sticker-shock from skyrocketing housing costs is what really makes them tremble.

How expensive is it?

Housing is so expensive in California that middle-income residents should get public assistance to help them make ends meet.

That's the bottom line in"Making Ends Meet: How Much Does it Cost To Raise A Family in California?" by the California Budget Project, a nonpartisan, non-profit research group in Sacramento, CA.

"Much more than the poverty level -- or indicators of overall health of the economy -- this study paints an accurate picture of the basic cost of living in California. It's virtually out of reach for millions of families," said Jean Ross, CBP director.

Califorinia's housing crisis has been spawned by a technology industry-driven economic boom that churns out jobs and a resultant demand for more homes than are available.

Silicon Valley (Santa Clara County, CA), for instance, the heart of the technology job boom, is an area of more than 1.5 million people, about half of whom own homes, but only 1,807 resale homes were available for sale in October, according to the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors.

"There really is no inventory," said Julie Chancerelle-Ziemelis, public relations manager for the association.

California's homeownership rate, 56 percent, is next to last nationwide. The national homeownership rate is about 67 percent.

To keep pace with it's job-driven population growth, builders statewide should construct more than 200,000 new housing units each year, but for the past seven years haven't been able to construct half as much, according too the Home Builders Association of Northern California.

The Budget Project's report analyzes how state fiscal policies affect low and middle income Californians and says largely because of the cost of housing, current measures of poverty are outdated with little relevance for Californians.

The federal poverty level for a family of four -- the point below which public support kicks in -- is an income of only $16,700. In California, twice that much barely covers the basic costs living: housing, child care, transportation, food, medical care, taxes and other necessary expenses.

On the average, the Californian family-of-four with two working adults needs $44,880 to make do. The same household with one working parent needs $31,356 and a single-parent family with two children should earn with one working parent and $36,828, according to the Budget Project.

California's minimum wage provides an annual income of only $11,960.

"Policy-makers should reexamine the eligibility for public support -- like child care and health coverage -- with California's high-cost of living in mind. Especially the cost of housing" Ross said.

Statewide, the median price of an existing, single-family detached home in California during the third quarter of 1999 was $219,760 up 6.8 percent from $205,760 a year ago , according to the California Association of REALTORS and Transamerica Intellitech, a real estate information service reported this week.

The state's ten cities and communities with the highest median single-family home prices during the third quarter 1999 were: Los Altos Hills, $1,645,000; Hillsborough, $1,500,000; Woodside, $1,372,500; Atherton, $1,300,000; Monte Sereno, $1,157,500; Belvedere/Tiburon $995,000; Saratoga, $889,000; Los Altos, $865,000; Palos Verdes Estates, $745,000; Pacific Palisades, $710,000.

Seven of the cities are in Silicon Valley. Eight of them are San Francisco Bay Area communities. Silicon Valley is in the southern portion of the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Budget Project likewise, said the state's highest cost of living is in the San Francisco Bay Area, including Silicon Valley, where an annual income of $53,736 is necessary for a family of four to get by. An average $44,172 is the yearly income necessary for a single-parent family of three and a family of four with only one working parent needs an average $36,516 a year to make ends meet.

In Silicon Valley, the median price of all homes was $361,975 in October, more than 16 percent higher than the $309,950 median in October, 1998, according to the area's association. Single-family housing prices rose just about as much to a record $410,944 in October, from $355,500 a year ago.

San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego, Monterey, Northern Wine, San Luis Obispo and Ventura regions also posted double-digit increases median home prices, according to the state association.

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Published: November 11, 1999

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A journalist for 35-years, Broderick Perkins parlayed an old-school daily newspaper career into a digital news service offering editorial content and consulting services. Perkins' San Jose, CA-based DeadlineNews Group includes the flagship news site, DeadlineNews.Com, offering real estate, personal finance and consumer journalism, and a backshop, the Deadline Newsroom.