Renters across the nation, and in particular in California, are locked in a pernicious squeeze of rising rents and stagnant incomes that has diverted a growing share of their paycheck to rent.

Often lost in the housing boom/bust/boom from mid-2000 until now is that over the period rents have for the most part gone only one direction: Up. In California, the continued rise in rents — combined with stagnating incomes and the erosion of state and federal affordable housing funds — has led to a big shortfall in affordable housing, according to a report from the California Housing Partnership.