As child care costs rise, so do community voices

Across the country, families are grappling with the high cost of child care — often their second-largest expense after housing.

Here in San Diego, advocates from the Children First Collective are sounding the alarm, sharing parents and child care workers’ stories, to highlight opportunities to build a stronger system for everyone.

“Parents can’t afford to pay, and providers can’t afford to stay.”

ABC 10 News follows the CFC’s Courtney Baltiyskyy to Copley Price YMCA to shed light on the issues surrounding the cost of care in San Diego.

• A recent study reveals child care and housing costs consume nearly half of household income. With infant care averaging over $22,000 per year and two-thirds of children living in “childcare deserts,” many parents are struggling to access and afford quality care.

• At the same time, child care providers face unsustainable financial gaps, often operating at a loss due to low reimbursement rates and underfunding.

Baltiyskyy says that without new public investments — especially as existing funding sources like tobacco tax revenue decline — the system will only worsen.

“The cost of preschool in particular is just so high, it’s like a second mortgage.”

CFC’s Shelby Gomez tells Fox 5 San Diego about the overwhelming costs of child care and its effects on parents across San Diego.

According to a report by Child Care Aware:

• California families spend more than $39,293 a year on average to put two children in a child care center.

“We’re really hoping for greater investment from our county, our cities, or state to make this broken market work,” Gomez says.