Napa County is losing its younger adults and families because of a mismatch between available housing and community needs, set off by a stagnation in housing production during the 2010s, according to a 64-page, county-commissioned report released Tuesday.
Exacerbating that problem, conversions of homes to high-cost rentals and second-home purchases have helped deplete available units further. The report notes that just over half of St. Helena’s vacant properties are second homes, while that proportion in Yountville reaches around 75%.
“Today, over half of Napa Valley’s vacant units are reserved for second homes rather than as rental units for residents, compared to 30% in Marin County and 15% in Solano County,” the report states.
The State of Housing in Napa Valley report — put together by Generation Housing, a housing advocacy nonprofit, in collaboration with the county during much of the past year — looks through the challenges and opportunities within the county’s current housing market.
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