It is indeed the fault of “policy makers”. I was involved with low-income families in Oakland trying get Prop 147 (Vouchers) passed. These families want BETTER for their children. We were faught every step of the way by Unions and their “policymakers”.
A large part of the problem is gerrymandering of political districts in California. The politicians in California know they are untouchable and merely sneer at the middle class.
The consequences of affordable housing in Antioch, California would be a potentially potent topic to raise at Vice-President elect Joe Biden’s “Middle Class” forum after the inauguration. Government is good at shifting a problem around; not in solving it.
The policy of the Democratic Party apparently is to give everyone the trappings and symbols of the middle class (housing, cars, social promotion in schools, etc.) pain free without ever having to earn it. Needless to say, this has disastrous consequences on the “beneficiaries” of such policies as well as on communities, neighborhoods, as well as declining church attendance in the low income areas these families move out of. The downtown and suburban areas these families are given incentives to move into do not have the social institutions (churches, extended families, clubs, etc.) that can mediate these kinds of problems. This is sociological suicide.