By Elizabeth Zach, RCAC staff writer

Despite California’s booming economy – among the largest in the world, surpassing most nation’s output – the majority of its residents are barely getting by, according to a new study.

The nonprofit and nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute’s survey of working Californians indicates that 56 percent of Central Coast residents are impoverished. This is higher than the state average but the same as the Sacramento Valley’s figures. Only the San Joaquin Valley has more residents living below the poverty line. Census data shows that nearly one in five Salinas residents are living in poverty. The study mirrors U.S. Census Bureau figures.

“Either we’re going to get worse or we’re going to start healing and getting better, and the jury’s out on that,” Matt Huerta, housing program manager at the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership, told The Californian. “But the survey indicates that it’s getting much worse ….”

To read more, go here: https://www.thecalifornian.com/story/news/2018/09/20/california-central-coast-struggling-housing-poverty/1347050002/