In general I have no sympathy for the people who lose their homes in California.

Blame it on the following
1. NIMBY – they block mass transit and freeway projects that would help people from Central Valley commute to Bay Area, Inland Empire to LA/Orange County

2. Open Space crowd – they keep lot of prime land vacant keeping housing prices higher

3. Opponents of private vouchers – Since you need to live in a good school district to educate your kids you have an arms race to buy homes in good school districts.