Housing and healthcare are the focus for 2025
By Fabrizio Sasso
Executive Director, Sacramento CLC
As we start a new year, one full of uncertainty, the Sacramento Central Labor Council is once again committing itself to making life better for the people of Sacramento, whether they are part of our union family yet or not.
There are two issues we are focusing on this year, ones that all of us share as burdens and worries: healthcare and housing.
The costs for both are too high, especially here in California. Recent data shows that the average rent in California is $1,837, more than $100 higher per month than the national average. And that’s if you can find a place. Here in Sacramento and across the Golden State, there is a lack of housing of all types that makes the market brutally competitive.
For those attempting to buy a home, the news is even more bleak. California home prices have long been higher than other states, but that gap is widening even more. So-called “mid-tier” homes, the kind you move up to after a starter house, are now more than twice as expensive as similar homes in other states. And those starter homes? They’re even more expensive here than mid-tier homes in other places—a starter home in California is 32% more expensive than a mid-tier home elsewhere.
That puts a huge burden on young workers attempting to build equity through ownership. The annual household income needed to qualify for a starter home in California is about $136,000, and for a mid-tier home, that jumps to $221,000. That’s more than twice the average household income of about $96,500.
Even if you’re one of the lucky folks who can swing that, it will leave you with a housing payment above $3,400 for a starter home. Folks, that’s a housing crisis. If working families aren’t able to own, it stunts their ability to build generational wealth.
And in the larger picture, it keeps the rental market overcrowded because people who would like to move into their own place are stuck renting, creating a downward pressure on the market that makes it harder and harder for our lowest income neighbors to find and keep housing.
This is just one reason unions constantly fight for better wages. It’s not just about bigger paychecks, but better, more stable lives. Simply put, workers need more money today to keep the basics like housing.
The same is true of healthcare. Too often, companies attempt to make union workers choose between healthcare and wages when it comes to negotiating contracts. But with both of those costs rising, we shouldn’t have to make that choice. And costs are rising.
Healthcare spending in California rose about 30% between 2015 and 2020, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office. That means in 2024, it was about $10,299 for every Californian.
That’s one reason we here at the SCLC will be spending more time this year talking about single-payer healthcare. The California Nurses Association has long championed this model and pushed hard on legislators to adopt it. But one of the biggest problems with it is that many people simply don’t understand what it means, and fear losing access to healthcare.
But the truth is, single-payer healthcare is the only sensible way forward, and in the long run, it will protect not only quality of care, but access.
Simply put, it makes the government the single payer. That means that every bill goes straight to the government, similar to Medicare. With that system, the government is able to leverage its might to control costs, and stop private health insurers from putting profits above lives.
This year, we plan on making a push to help more people think about single-payer healthcare, and to find new and meaningful ways to address the housing crisis here in Sacramento and across the state.
And of course, we will continue the fight for all working people, building our union might so that we can continue to do right by our members, and our communities.