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Apartment buildings are seen in San Francisco in 2017. A recent survey has found that more than one-third of Bay Area renters are having trouble affording their apartments. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group Archives)

Homes are seen in San Francisco in 2017. A recent survey has found that more than one in five homeowners in the Bay Area have to stretch to make their mortgage payments. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group Archives)

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Realtor Jackie Purvis, center, discusses some details with Karan Bonda, left, and Kalpana Bonda, right, at an open house at 5893 Taormino Avenue in San Jose, Calif. on Sunday, Feb. 25, 2018. (Randy Vazquez/ Bay Area News Group)



(Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group) A construction site for new apartment buildings on Nov. 30, 2017, in San Jose. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)

Thomas Tran, 7, left, looks at John Tran, right, put on some shoe covers at an open house at 5893 Taormino Avenue in San Jose, Calif. on Sunday, Feb. 25, 2018. (Randy Vazquez/ Bay Area News Group)

Apartment buildings are seen in San Francisco in 2017. A recent survey has found that more than one-third of Bay Area renters are having trouble affording their apartments. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group Archives)



Richard Rogers looks at one of the bathrooms at an open house at 5893 Taormino Avenue in San Jose, Calif. on Sunday, Feb. 25, 2018. (Randy Vazquez/ Bay Area News Group)

FREMONT, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER, 5: Habitat for Humanity's Central Commons project in Fremont is photographed on Dec. 5, 2018. Of the 30 condominiums planned, 11 are nearly complete and have been sold to families, while 19 others remain under construction. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)

Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group SAN JOSE, CA - DECEMBER 03: A view of construction in downtown San Jose on Dec. 3, 2018. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)



Kalpana Bonda closes a glass door at an open house at 5893 Taormino Avenue in San Jose, Calif. on Sunday, Feb. 25, 2018. (Randy Vazquez/ Bay Area News Group)

Prospective homebuyers attend an open house in San Jose, Calif., on Sunday, Feb. 25, 2018. Some newcomers mention the high housing costs as one of the things they dislike about living in the Bay Area. (Randy Vazquez/ Bay Area News Group Archives)

We knew it was bad. Now we know how bad — how unaffordable housing has become for Bay Area residents.

In an eye-opening article published Sunday, reporters Katy Murphy and Kaitlyn Bartley document how rapidly rising rental and home-purchase costs have priced out a staggering portion of the Bay Area’s population.

Consider a family earning the equivalent of $100,000 today:

• In 2012, that family could afford the median rent in 70 percent of Bay Area zip codes. By 2018, the family could afford the median rent in only 28 percent of zip codes.

• In 2012, if looking to buy a home, that family could afford the median mortgage in 41 percent of Bay Area zip codes. By 2018, the family could afford it in only 18 percent of zip codes.

As the region’s economy soars, a shrinking portion of the workers who sustain it can afford to live here. Those who stay are being forced to devote more of their income toward keeping homes near their jobs, to squeeze into smaller living spaces or to commute longer distances to live in affordable homes.

It’s unsustainable.

The Bay Area cannot continue to thrive if only the upper echelon can afford to live here. A well-functioning economy requires a diversity of jobs and income levels. We need housing for all those workers. And we need it near their jobs.

Our already overtaxed transportation systems — roads, freeways, buses and rail lines — cannot absorb additional commuters. We’re already reaching gridlock along most major commute corridors.

Daily travel from far-flung suburbs or the Central Valley that requires three or four hours on the road is bad for the environment, bad for our health and bad for our families.

We must build our way out of this mess — by building more housing, not more freeways. Lots more housing.

That means reasonably relaxing restrictions that discourage building and help make Bay Area construction costs the world’s highest. It means encouraging dense development near major transit corridors. And ending local government and union attempts to dictate who builders hire.

It also means easing environmental restrictions that are manipulated for political objectives but maintaining those that protect our treasured open space and stop urban sprawl that contributes to commute congestion.

We need to be smart about solving our housing crisis. While rent gouging must be stopped, rent control would discourage development that’s badly needed to bring down housing prices.

And we need to be smart about where we put jobs and homes. Things won’t get better if we fail to address the jobs-housing imbalance. That means looking to put homes near jobs — and jobs near homes.

To a large extent, the Bay Area is a victim of its economic success. But the region’s leaders and state lawmakers’ failure to plan for that success threatens to undermine it.

Tough policy discussions have begun finally in the state Capitol. But it’s also up to local leaders to do their parts — to plan smart and balanced growth that provides the housing we need where we need it and as soon as possible.