FILE: In an aerial view, a 1.2 million-square-foot Maersk distribution center partners with Amazon to move some of its goods in Hesperia, Calif., on Feb. 23, 2026.

California’s Inland Empire continues to grow, despite the state’s overall population stagnating. But even as people relocate, seeking more affordable housing in rapidly expanding communities, construction crews are hard at work on buildings unfit for humans to live in.

Warehouses are popping up at four times the growth rate of residents in the Inland Empire, according to a new analysis, with a staggering 1 billion square feet of warehouse space currently blanketing the area east of Los Angeles. That’s equivalent to roughly 36 square miles or more than 10,000 Costco-sized buildings, a boom that the study’s authors said led to a cascade of adverse environmental and public health impacts. The new report highlights those concerns if the building remains unchecked, but it also warns that favoring this type of development over housing could have dire future impacts. 

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The report, put together by a collection of environmental groups such as the Sierra Club, found that thousands of acres of residential land are being rezoned for industrial use for warehouse construction and that hundreds of existing homes have been demolished to make room for more warehouses. In the city of Moreno Valley, around 1,359 acres were rezoned for a more than 40 million-square-foot warehouse, while in Bloomington, an unincorporated community in San Bernardino County, at least 117 residences were bulldozed to make way for four warehouses. These........

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