SCAG Survey: 1 in 10 SoCal Homes Overcrowded as Inland Empire Families Struggle With Childcare, Housing Costs

The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) published their annual community survey in October, bringing a snapshot of housing and commuting across San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange County, Los Angeles and Imperial Counties. 

The report’s conclusions: we need more childcare, more family-friendly workplace policies and more housing. 

Seventy percent of children live in a household where both parents work, requiring these families to pay for childcare.

The construction of new housing has not continued to match demand, said Kevin Kane, SCAG program manager for demographics and housing policy. He pointed to the region’s overcrowding rates, a figure he says is representative of supply not meeting demand, and of people jamming into homes to save on rent. 

Overcrowding is defined as more than one person per room in a household. Nine percent of homes are considered overcrowded in San Bernardino County, compared to 8% in Riverside, 10.5% in Los Angeles County, 10% across the SCAG region, 7% in California, and only 3.5% across the country.

Despite overcrowding, the percentage of households that spend more than 30% of their income on housing costs has slightly declined since 2006. This mirrors a national trend, according to the report. Forty-one percent of households in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, 43% across the entire SCAG region, and 32% across the nation spend more than 30% of their income on rent. In 2006, the number was closer to 47% in the SCAG region. 

The report shows that work-from-home has stabilized, with 10.3% of workers in San Bernardino, 11.5% in Riverside, and 14% from the entire SCAG region working from home in 2024. 

That is a jump from before COVID: in 2019, only 6% of employees worked from home. Only 2.7% of workers took transit in 2024, a decrease from 3.8% in 2019, and from 4.9% in 2006, when SCAG began collecting the information.

Home ownership rates have not changed much in recent years. Riverside County has the highest home ownership rate in the SCAG region, with 68% of home ownership compared to 63% in San Bernardino County, 46% in Los Angeles County, 53% across SCAG and 65% across the entire nation.

College education rates are also rising, both locally and nationally. Twenty-four percent of people over 25-years-old in San Bernardino have a bachelor’s degree, compared to 26% in Riverside, 35% in the SCAG region, 40% across California and 39% across the country. In 2006, those numbers were 17% in San Bernardino, 19% in Riverside, 27% in the SCAG region, 31% across California and 27% across the country. 

SCAG, a metropolitan planning organization, is governed by representatives of cities throughout the counties. Its goal with the data is to provide for informed policy decisions in response to the commuting, education and housing needs of the region. 

“Freeways don’t end at county borders. Labor markets don’t end at county borders. Your housing search radius doesn’t end at a county border,” said Kane. 

The full 23-page report is available here.

This article was originally published by CalMatters.