“We’re witnessing the death of the thing that really made California great, which was its middle class,” said the writer [and UCI professor of Chicano/Latino studies] Héctor Tobar, 60, whose novels have explored the economic divide in the state. “What fueled the boom in population was the new subdivisions, it was people migrating here to get a taste of middle-class life. And today California is divided more than ever into rich and poor.”

For the full story, please visit https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/27/us/california-population-decline-housing-crisis.html.