In a micro example of California’s housing crunch, a recent listing of a San Francisco micro-unit home of 264 square feet seems like a tight squeeze but could be considered a good deal (!) at $425,000, because of its location and rooftop view. In the macro version of the housing squeeze, California’s housing shortage keeps exacting a deeper and wider impact along the economic ladder.

At the 2015 California Economic Summit, CA Fwd asked California’s Treasurer John Chiang and Caleb Roope, president and CEO of homebuilder The Pacific Companies, how the lack of affordable housing is putting drag on the economy and squeezes out not only low-income residents but puts also economic pressure on middle-class Californians.

The alternative is that more affordable housing would benefit not only people’s commutes, but also their health and educational outcomes, and the push toward sharing prosperity across all of the state’s varied regions.

See more in the video below: