We have a very powerful economy in California. The richest state in the nation with an economy and population comparable to many nations.
Part of the problem with California is the distribution of wealth and income. As stated in the article, our housing market is out of reach for most of the population. The desirable places to live attract people but cannot sustain them hence the problem with homelessness.
We have Democratic control of our government, but there is still a struggle even within the party on how to raise the standard of living of all people while not chasing away the tech industry and other major money makers.
I disagree with the statement "The State has put high value jobs..." The state doesn't tell companies where to go, the companies go where to money is. If you want to compete in tech, you go to the City and outlying areas, or to LA or Irvine and San Diego. You can set up a tech company in San Bernardino or Redding, but good luck competing with Silicon Valley and the major cities. It might distribute the population better if the Stated DID tell companies where to go.
Housing is saturated in the big cities too so naturally the push is going to be eastward to the large tracts of desert land that people don't necessarily want to go live in. I remember in the late 90's/early 2000's when my parents were close to retirement, they bought there nice 3.5 bedroom 2.5 bath house with a decent yard for 107k in 1979 but my sister and I had moved out so they were looking at where to go. Everything in our home town and outlying areas was 400k for like a 2 bedroom and while they could have afforded it with the sale of their home it would have been an economic hit. They looked into San Bernardino and Riverside where they could get a 7 bedroom for 265k at that time because they were trying to attract LA commuters. Now, those homes are expensive and pushing into further eastward. You see places like Norco, Temecula, and the like that were sleepy little towns that are now rows and rows of tract housing.
The same way that you don't see a ton of people setting up shop in Idaho and Iowa or other places but going to Florida, New York, and California, is happening internally in the state.
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