Shiri Gradek

Santa Cruz County is doing a good job of building rental units, but it’s not building enough affordable homes for people to buy, writes Shiri Gradek, a serial renter who pays 55% of her salary to rent. She wants this to change. Prioritizing only rentals, she says, doesn’t build equity or wealth for a community. It feeds landlords and developers and contributes to the dismantling of the middle class.