SACRAMENTO — California’s persistent housing crisis has become a defining feature of life in the state, affecting millions of residents across all income levels. But a new report released by the Gender Equity Policy Institute (GEPI) makes clear that women — especially Black women, single mothers, senior women, and women living alone — are disproportionately harmed by the state’s housing affordability crisis.
The June 2025 report, titled A Gender Equality Perspective on California’s Housing Crisis, presents a sobering conclusion: “Simply being a woman makes one more likely to live in unaffordable housing, even when controlling for race/ethnicity, household income, and employment status.”
Housing is defined as unaffordable when more than 30 percent of household income goes toward rent or mortgage costs. When more than half of household income is spent on housing, the household is considered “severely burdened.”
According to GEPI’s analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2023 American Community Survey, more than 14 million Californians — including 3.6 million children — live in housing considered unaffordable by this standard. Of those, approximately 8 million live in rentals, and about 6 million live in homes they own.
Women are significantly more likely than men to be affected. The report finds that 53 percent of women renters in California are rent burdened, compared to 47 percent of male renters. Nearly 30 percent of women renters are severely rent burdened.
Among homeowners, 28 percent of women are cost burdened, compared to 26 percent of men. Even among homeowners, women are more likely to shoulder housing costs they cannot afford.
“These disparities are not random or incidental,” the report explains. “They are deeply intertwined with gender inequality in the broader society.”
GEPI outlines several structural reasons why women are more vulnerable to unaffordable housing. Women, on average, earn less than men and accumulate less wealth over their lifetimes. Women are also more likely to be primary caregivers, reducing their flexibility in choosing where to live, how far they can commute, and how much they can work. In addition, women are more likely to live alone, raise children on a single income, and outlive their spouses, often entering retirement with lower savings.
“Women are disproportionately responsible for taking care of children, leaving them with less flexibility about where they can live to be able to balance paid work, commuting to work, and care responsibilities,” the report says.
The burden is particularly high for Black women. The report notes that 63 percent of Black women renters are rent burdened, and 36 percent are severely burdened. Even among Black women who own homes, 42 percent still spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing.
“Black families face the most acute challenge to securing affordable housing,” GEPI states. “Black women are the most likely to be shouldering high housing costs.”
Among women of other racial and ethnic groups, disparities remain stark. Fifty-four percent of Latina women renters are rent burdened. Fifty-three percent of White women renters also pay unaffordable rents. Asian American women renters are somewhat less likely to be rent burdened, but within every major racial and ethnic group, women face a higher housing burden than men.
“The gender gap is smallest among Asian Americans, at about four percentage points,” the report notes. “Among Latinos, women’s rent burden is eight points higher than men’s. Black women and men have the largest gap, at 10 points.”
White and Asian American men are the most likely to live in owned homes, and when they do rent, they experience the lowest levels of rent burden. But for all other groups, housing affordability remains out of reach for large portions of the population.
Seniors are also disproportionately affected, especially senior women. Women comprise 55 percent of Californians age 65 and older, and many live alone. While homeownership rates among senior women are relatively high, 53 percent of senior women homeowners are cost burdened. For those who rent, the burden is even greater — 77 percent of senior women renters are rent burdened.
“Many senior women live alone, and they are significantly more likely than their male counterparts to spend an unaffordable share of their income on housing,” the report says.
The crisis extends to children as well. Of the 3.6 million children living in unaffordable homes in California, 2.2 million are in rental housing. The report finds that children in renting families are nearly twice as likely as those in owning families to live in unaffordable housing. Latino children are disproportionately affected, making up 64 percent of all children living in unaffordable rentals.
Single mothers face the most severe consequences of the housing crisis. GEPI estimates that approximately 2.2 million adults and children in California live in single-mother households. These families are the least likely to own homes and the most likely to experience rent burden. Among single mothers who rent, 77 percent are rent burdened, and nearly half — 49 percent — are severely rent burdened.
By contrast, 64 percent of single fathers who rent are rent burdened, creating a 13-point gender gap — the widest gap found among any household type in the report.
“The only homeowners with cost burdens above 50 percent are single mothers and women who live alone,” GEPI notes.
Women who live alone face similarly stark challenges. Among solo women renters, 72 percent pay unaffordable rents, compared to 63 percent of men who live alone. For comparison, the rent burden rate for residents in couple-led households is significantly lower, at 44 percent.
The cumulative effect of these disparities, the report argues, is a housing system that systematically disadvantages women, particularly those facing overlapping oppressions based on race, age, and household composition.
“Women confront unique challenges to securing affordable and suitable housing in California,” the report states. “To some degree, all women experience these difficulties. Yet for many women, they are compounded by discrimination and marginalization.”
The report does not only diagnose the problem — it also offers a roadmap forward.
Among GEPI’s recommendations are increasing state investment in affordable housing, incentivizing the production of multifamily housing near job centers, streamlining the permitting process to lower the cost and time required to build, preserving existing affordable units, and targeting housing assistance to single parents, seniors living alone, and the lowest-income Californians.
In addition, the report calls for a shift in how California approaches housing policy.
“Integrate a gender equality perspective in housing policy,” the report urges. “Incentivize the incorporation of gender-responsive design principles in new housing development.”
GEPI also calls on state and local governments to improve their data collection systems so that gender-disaggregated data can be used to inform policymaking and resource allocation.
“California’s housing crisis cannot be solved without directly addressing the ways it intersects with gender and racial inequality,” the report concludes. “To solve California’s housing crisis, we must acknowledge and address the ways it is shaped by gender inequality.”
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