On May 5, the California Housing Partnership Corporation (CHPC) released reports describing the affordable housing challenges facing lower-income renters in four Bay Area counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Sonoma. The reports detail a rapid escalation in rents that, in combination with a dramatic decline in state and federal funding, have led to a shortage of more than 134,000 affordable homes in these four counties. Households that earn less than 50 percent of area median income in the four must spend more than half of their monthly paychecks on rent. Matt Schwartz, president of CHPC, notes that between the elimination of redevelopment agencies in California, decreased federal funding and the expiration of special state housing bonds, California’s spending on affordable housing has gone down $1.5 billion since 2012, while the housing shortage has grown rapidly. The report offers concrete steps that state and local representatives can take to help lessen the burden on low-income families in these counties.