Andrea Seigel scours Craigslist every day, looking for a rental home for her and her family in South Pasadena or nearby neighborhoods like Eagle Rock.

Andrea Seigel scours Craigslist every day, looking for a rental home for her and her family in South Pasadena or nearby neighborhoods like Eagle Rock. 

The biggest hurdle is the lack of inventory, said the 36-year-old mother of a young daughter. The Seigels must be out of their current rental when August ends. "I'm shocked that there's nothing to look at, there's nothing to even go see," Seigel said. "Besides that, prices have skyrocketed." 

The region's housing crunch is steep, by any economic measure. A database of housing affordability statistics created by The Associated Press shows Southern California's two main metropolitan regions Los Angeles and Orange counties and the Inland Empire consistently rank among the U.S. markets that most stretch the household budgets of homeowners and renters. The data is based on census figures through 2014, the latest available.

Among the 40 largest U.S. metro areas, figures show Los Angeles and Orange County had the lowest home ownership rate, the most financially stressed owners and the highest percentage of middle-aged households who were renters. The Inland Empire had the most people per rental unit, the highest share of single-family homes rented, and the second-highest level of financially stressed renters. The problem has been three decades in the making. The region's population and economic growth has outpaced local willingness to build more housing. For example, for every four jobs created in L.A.-O.C. and the Inland Empire between 2011-2014, only roughly one new housing unit was permitted. All told, a shortage of housing options has boosted home prices and rents and essentially raised the entrance fee to Southern California living.

Lucy Dunn, a former state housing chief who now heads the Orange County Business Council, is frustrated by the response to the housing shortfall not just regionally but statewide. Construction is problematic because of what Dunn sees as self-inflicted hurdles from unfriendly review processes to quirky environmental laws to unyielding neighbors. "It's simple. It's about the supply," Dunn said. Just ask the Seigel family. The Seigels moved to South Pasadena for its reputable school system in 2013. Now, they have to be out of their $2,450-a-month, two-bedroom Dutch Colonial home by Sept. 1 because their landlord is moving back into the place. The couple is willing to pay $4,000 a month in rent but still can't find an available rental, Seigel said. Spending that much money on rent, rather than a mortgage, isn't ideal but the couple is worried that they'll buy and then the market will crash. "It's crazy right now," Seigel said of housing prices. "I'm very, very stressed out right now and very concerned."

Steep costs.

The Great Recession, while painful for most households across the region, ended up being extra painful for renters. The easy lending terms of the past decade's boom allowed too many unqualified house hunters to buy homes. When the economy practically collapsed in 2009-10, families lost their homes to foreclosure. It was a double-whammy, depressing home values and boosting the need for rentals from displaced households. Cheap interest rates, used to stimulate the ailing economy, were a boon to the remaining homeowners. As a result, census stats show that between 2010 and 2014, the cost of owning a home dropped 10 percent in L.A.-O.C. and 18 percent in the Inland Empire. Renters were not as lucky. Heavy demand for rentals pushed up already-high costs by 3 percent in L.A.-O.C. In the same four-year period, rental costs dropped in the Inland Empire by just 2 percent, census data shows. As a result, 55 percent of Inland Empire renters were financially stressed in 2014, by census math. The area had the second-highest share of renters spending more than 30 percent of their incomes on housing among the 40 largest markets. L.A.-O.C. was third at 53 percent. (Miami was the worst.) Housing costs also strapped local homeowners. Census stats show 40.5 percent of L.A.-O.C. owners were spending 30 percent or more on housing in 2014, highest in the nation. In the Inland Empire, it's 38.8 percent financially stressed owners vs. a 29.5 percent average among the top 40 U.S. markets. "Even before we had a robust job market, we had a housing problem," said Leslie Appleton-Young, chief economist for the California Association of Realtors. "We're doing a very poor job of accommodating our population." Housing's steep financial toll isn't a simple pocketbook issue.

It has forced people to cram into residential units or endure long commutes to save money. That crowds neighborhoods and freeways and puts extra wear and tear on the region's infrastructure. To combat financial strain, local renters doubled up in pricey units. The Inland Empire in 2014 had 3.3 people per rental, tops among the 40 largest U.S. markets, census data shows. L.A.-O.C. has the second most crowded rentals, with 2.9 people per unit. Max Gardner sees many of these housing-linked woes play out in his job as chief executive of United Way Orange County, which supports many nonprofit efforts to combat everything from homelessness to poverty to educational deficiencies.

Inadequate housing disrupts the quality of life for financial stressed households, Gardner said. It can create family relationship problems or health issues. Youngsters in such situations may struggle at school. These challenges can compound on a family and limit future earnings potential as well. "If you don't have a holistic solution, we're not going to change the fundamental problems," Gardener said. Growing pains In many ways, the housing crunch is an outgrowth of a solid economic recovery. Economist Chris Thornburg doesn't see a housing affordability problem, noting a decent pace of home buying after the recession. Rather, there's a huge imbalance between the success of the region's job market growing rapidly out of the Great Recession, and residential construction.