MONDAY, AUGUST 21, 2023 North Bay Business Journal 7

RENT Adam
Ensminger
continued from page 6 of Mike’s
Painting
touches up
exempt raised rents to meet what would the paint at
now be considered market-rate value. the Caritas
Village
Fair Housing Napa Valley Executive affordable
Director Pablo Zatarain said in Napa housing
County, they started to see rent increases complex,
as high as $600 emerge. which
includes 20
“That’s what’s gotten us to this point, apartments
and now these rents have caught up to located at
what ‘market-rate’ is,” he said. 2375 Old
Reporting from The Associated Press Sonoma Road
in Napa.
found that demand for apartments sky- The nonprofit
rocketed during the pandemic as people Caritas Corp.
sought to relocate due to jobs going opened the
remote. Across the country, developers development
this summer
of rental projects rushed to meet this to provide
demand. affordable
Commercial real estate tracker Co- housing for
Star found there are nearly 1.1 million the increase
in people
apartments currently under construction working
nationwide, a pace The Associated Press at service
said has not been seen since the 1970s. industry jobs
Sonoma State University economics in Napa that
cater to the
professor Rob Eyler said rent prices wine industry.
also tend to follow the housing market,
BETH SCHLANKER
with people typically renting in location- THE PRESS
swhere they hope to buy a home. DEMOCRAT

High home prices and interest rates

along with low inventory haveforced buy-
ers to linger in the rental market.
This creates an increase in demand for
rentals, causing prices to creep up.
“It basically boils down to supply and
demand,” Eyler said. “If the supply of
rentals is not keeping pace with demand,
you’re going to see more pressure on
rentals as well.”

PRICED OUT OF SONOMA COUNTY

California’s population is declining,
leading some to think that prices would
drop, especially rents.
However, Generation Housing director
of special initiatives Josh Shipper said
construction on housing has continued to
be outpaced by population.
So, even as people have moved out of
Sonoma County, it’s not enough to offset
demand.
This has also priced middle-income
earners out of the ownership market
and forced them to linger in the rental
market.
“Many affordable units are not avail-
able to them … and many of the market
rate units are not available to them,”
Shipper said. “There’s just more people
looking for that middle rental option.”
Massey has opted to rent for all of
these decadesbecause she isn’t usually
home due to her work schedule and so-
cial life. She said renting doesn’t burden
her with issues related to homeowner-
ship.

See RENT page 8