California’s Housing Policy Is Holding Back Its Climate Policy

The high cost of housing in California isn’t just hurting the state’s economy, fueling homelessness, and exacerbating economic inequality. It’s imperiling its reputation as a global leader in emissions reductions, too.

Lila Cabrera’s move last year to Palmdale, a city of 160,000 in the high-desert region of Antelope Valley north of Los Angeles, illustrates the connection. As a renter in Sylmar, Calif., “I was overdrawn every month,” says the single mom of three. “I just couldn’t see it turning around.” Now, a $1,370 mortgage payment gets her family more space for less money. It also gets her a 51-mile commute, which, in typical bumper-to-bumper traffic, takes an average of two hours each way.