That put California’s population where it had been in about 2017 – essentially eight years of no population growth. When California’s population was still growing, high Net International Migration compensated for Net Domestic Migration, with natural growth doing the rest. There is obviously no actual shortage of housing; but there is a huge shortage of housing that people can comfortably afford. In the prior year, the growth in housing units was similar, according to the Department of Finance. New private housing units authorized by building permits have been running between 100,000 to 120,000 per year over the past 10 years through 2025.