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Google Fights Bay Area Housing Prices With Pre-Fab Housing (siliconvalley.com)
An anonymous reader quotes the Bay Area Newsgroup:
With rental costs skyrocketing and homes out of reach for many, Google has hit on a solution that may help it attract workers to the crushingly expensive Bay Area. The tech giant plans to buy 300 units of modular housing to serve as temporary employee accommodations on its planned "Bay View" campus at NASA's Moffett Field, according to a source familiar with the plan. Experts heralded the move as not only good for Google, but as a potential template for others to follow as the high cost of construction combined with expensive real estate make affordable housing hard to come by... Modular housing has the potential to be "a real game changer" for the Bay Area housing crunch, said Matt Regan, senior vice-president of public policy at the Bay Area Council, a business group of which Google is a member...
The Bay Area boasts many sites suitable for modular rental housing, undeveloped so far largely because the cost of traditional building is too high for the rent the facilities could generate, Regan said. With prefab housing costing up to 50 percent less, "all of a sudden sites like that become economically feasible to develop," Regan said.
The Bay Area boasts many sites suitable for modular rental housing, undeveloped so far largely because the cost of traditional building is too high for the rent the facilities could generate, Regan said. With prefab housing costing up to 50 percent less, "all of a sudden sites like that become economically feasible to develop," Regan said.
Moffett Field is government owned property. Google has absolutely no right to it. It is home to a significant population of burrowing owls, which are an endangered species.
Now these people are gonna turn it into a frigging trailer park for silicon valley trash.
Caution: Contents under pressure
I pity anyone who actually takes them up on the offer.
Boy, now I REALLY want to go work for Google!
same thing done for mill workers back in the day.
Why doesn't Google have Dorms on their Campus?
Campus? Isn't that the northern word for plantation?
Earn $200K a year, live in a trailer!
Company housing, company cafeteria; now they just need suicide nets.
So Facebook can just spread a brain-eating virus in the Google slum.
I live in Fremont, just across the bay from Google and Facebook. If I were offered a job at either of them I would consider turning it down solely because of the commute problem in this area. In nominal conditions I can make it to Stanford Hospital in about 38.5 minutes. In commute conditions without access to the commuter lane that can stretch to 2 hours or more.
Would 300 units even make a dent in the problem? The Google lunch area alone (been there) accommodates several times that number. At best this would be temporary accommodations.
And the problem with temporary accommodations is that they tend to turn into permanent accommodations. And it is rarely very pretty.
just don't shine a bright light into the night air right next to you/all around us.. cease fire stand down,, sing along.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvtJPs8IDgU .. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLO3NmGJuHg .. enough goo already?
i hope this does not trend nationwide. is it not bad enough people cannot afford medical care until their company offers insurance, often months after being hired? but now we will depend on them for housing. if you want to leave for a better job (or get fired) 100% chance youll have to move rather than find a new job within range of your place...
Looks to be a white supremacist (ie. a white guy).
The Muslims are getting very violent now. Just now in London, another car ran into a group of white ango people.
sing along almost everybody knows the 'words' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D5PtyrewSs thanks again.. seems like everything megasloth et al does is about fighting?
Prefab building stuff is often glued together. Mmmmmmm, glue.
They ought to do a bunch of these eco-fabulous container homes, not just because they're granola-friendly but because they're seismically secure...
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
It's Ramadan so Muslims are getting all uppity and doing jihad.
It's not just a problem in London, Muslims are getting violent in Ontario, too.
Islam is based on peace, that's why it's called the religion of peace.
Everything in Islam is based on peace.
And Muhammad is his prophet.
This is meaningless dribble. Prefab housing will never be built in numbers large enough to be anything other than green-washing. If Google wanted to do something meaningful about housing prices it would do one of two things:
Set up shop in a place where housing isn't already undergoing a huge shortage.
Lobby to remove height based restrictions for housing.
These are the only two real world options. You have to either change the supply (remove height restrictions) or you have to change the demand (set up shop elsewhere).
You cannot circumvent the laws of supply and demand. Even though government after government has attempted to do so over the years.
that one can conveniently sell their soul to? (Johnny Cash's rendition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...)
Shaddup, no one likes this guy
This is terrible. The employees are going to end up living out of crates or something. Did you see the picture in the article? I don't see any modular houses, just office buildings and grass fields. They don't even want to show a concept of what these houses will look like because they know they're shit.
to offer loans to their employees in exchange for equity sharing. Google could under write (or more likely secure funds from other lenders) home loans with the proviso they get some % percentage of the increase in value when the home is sold. They could even reduce the % overtime as an incentive for good employees to stay with them. If an employee leaves, they could freeze the % if the borrower is up to date; or even offer to give up the equity in the event of a layoff as part of a package. In the later case, it could possibly be a tax free way to add to the severance; depending on the tax law and how the deal is structured. Such an approach would let employees get into the market and take advantage of its crazyness while tying employees to Google as well. The Moffat Field homes could serve as transitional places as employees look for a home; or as housing for employees that would prefer to rent. If my company at the time had such a deal I'd still be there and living on the coast side; enjoying the benefits of living in a small town by the ocean with a short commute into the Bay Area and the city. The coat side isn't for everyone but for those of us that liked the environment and loved fog it was great place to live. All the advantages of the city and the valley with none of the BS.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
Working in Silicon Valley seems pretty great. I'm so upset I gave up industry for a cushy faculty job.
STFU.
Islam is all about peace, obviously.
The housing crunch has little to do with the cost of construction and much to do with restrictive zoning and discretionary reviews that prevent projects from happening at all.
Beau is an IDIOT!
Thanks to Prop 13 (circa 1978...), the average permit & planning fee cost to build a single family unit of housing in the Bay Area exceeds $140,000. That's why you see so many crappy houses for sale at absurd prices. "Yeah, it's a wet cardboard box... But it has a valid occupancy permit and .09 acres... So $600k is fair..."
The cities can't get the property taxes to pay for expanding the sewer & water plants, etc... So they factor those in up front.
Yes, serves this IDIOT right. Mod 'em down I say!
So they're joining the list of businesses that build isolated towns for their employees, which includes lumber factories, coal mines, steel mills, the military ...
Or they could maybe build a facility somewhere else and expand there. Somewhere the engineers AND the janitor can get a place to live within a 30 minute drive. And the people who provide the services that allow a community to exist, like firefighters, teachers, food servers, etc... It doesn't have to be out in the boonies either. It will still need to be an area with a relatively high average education to supply and attract the right talent, so there will still be some affluence, but it isn't difficult to be better from a housing and traffic situation than what they have now. Otherwise this modular housing is just a waste of time and money, they should be building an arcology on their main campus.
Si.....er, correcto!
they make enough to afford housing, albeit barely. The trouble is they want services, and that means low paid people. Police, Fire, Emergency responders for a start. Then cooks, laundry, taxis and for some of the better off (who can afford kids) teachers. All of these are at best middle class jobs. Nobody likes paying for them to have nice homes in expensive neighborhoods, but they sure want the services.
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Will they cover the long term cancer issues from living on an airfield? Or avoid lawsuits by contractual and employment agreement?
This is perfect, especially for all of their H1-B workers.
Meet your 7 new roommates. They only speak Hindi but I'm sure you'll get along. Take the bottom bunk in the corner and the bathroom is two floors down.
Welcome to the team.
Moffet Field is about 2,200 acres, or 3.4 square miles. If it was rebuilt with the population density of the inner core of Shanghai (~120,000 people per square mile), it could house 400,000 people, along with offices, restaurants, etc.
Trailer parks are not new in Mountain View. There are several within a few blocks of Google. Trailers can run seven figures... because land.
No, not "Soylent Green". What I would like to suggest is that instead of building traditional apartments/condos/etc, we build a large building that would occupy the same amount of space, but have radically different living conditions. Imagine the outside walls of each building (not literally outside, though) filled with sleeping tubes (you could probably stuff thousands of people in spaces that used to only hold about 100-200), and have communal kitchens, bathrooms, and entertainment rooms. Give them small refrigerators with locks on them, and lockers to store personal items inside of (also with locks).
Then change the laws so that the inhabitants don't have to pay rent, but their employers only have to pay them the same amount of money that would be given to someone working for tips. And pay the employees with wooden coins that can only be spent at the company store. Also legalize explosive collars so that if an employee tries to quit his or her job, you can just blow their necks off.
Austin, Texas. It is affordable and has a number of tech industries. The only downside is that it's too damn hot most of the year,
Lovely.
sometimes it just feels we're going backwards in time, factory workers used to get housing provided to them, close to the factory.
all the shops & bars in the neighbourhood would also be owned by the factory and so people were mostly spending all their money back to the factory.
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
All we need to solve this is a free market for housing, without all these fucking NIMBYs using their local city councils to prevent new construction.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
The hyperloop will significantly decrease housing prices in the bay area. Hell I would gladly live in Texas and commute to the Bay area for a 20-30 minute commute each day with no traffic :-)
Hyperloop will be the deflationary force everyone needs to bring housing prices back down to reality.
Higher property values don't mean much unless one sells (equity conversion), and it also means higher taxes, so NIMBY is a double-edged sword.
Or just telecommute in. Best of both world.
There's an ample supply of real estate for both housing and business if you just get out of the stupid overpriced Bay Area.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Google is a tech company - if affordable housing is a problem, why not let most of the staff telecommute from less expensive areas?
TechCrunch published a fantastic essay a few years back explaining the very complex, interlocking set of political interests and problems that have caused Bay Area housing costs to explode. Surge in high paying tech jobs, extreme NIMBY by neighborhood councils, California legislation, owls, and well meaning activists have led to the complete cluster that the SF housing market is today. Construction costs have never been a significant issue. I also feel like Google's plans are going to be disrupted by these same factors once the vested powers figure out what's going on.
Instead of lowering the cost of housing, this will lower the quality of housing and keep the cost about the same. Google wins, not the renter.
Car culture. When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
Seems to me that most rational people would look at this and everything else going on in that part of the country and come to the conclusion that it's time to get the fuck outta there.
The desire to live in some locale despite the obvious Housing/Transportation/Food(?) costs just so they can say they live there or go jogging by the bay is indicative of some really screwed up priorities, maybe even a mild mental disorder.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky,
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
And the people in the houses
All went to the university,
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same,
And there's doctors and lawyers,
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
And they all play on the golf course
And drink their martinis dry,
And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school,
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university,
Where they are put in boxes
And they come out all the same.
And the boys go into business
And marry and raise a family
In boxes made of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
Sounds like a fantastic place to raise your family!
Or, you know, a shit-load of cash.
Google, Apple, Amazon, Facebook (I think) amongst others are all in and around that area, and they pay very well. Sure, you'll be paying through the nose for a house/flat, but if you see yourself as having a career here, then that house/flat becomes an investment. Property values aren't likely to drop significantly in the next decade or so, in fact they're very likely to increase, so money put in now is likely a good return on investment.
Work, save, wait, quit, move.
That shitty $1M 1500-sq.ft ranch is now worth $1.5M and it'll still sell quickly, pay off your remaining $900k of mortgage and you're left with a pretty large nest egg to go live somewhere else. That's how it's worked out for me, anyway. I bought said shitty 1500 sq.ft house for $760k about 8 years ago, I get paid well, so I've been paying off the mortgage at 2x the monthly rate, and I now owe ~$300k. The house is worth ~$1.4M, Another 7-8 years and it's all mine.
There can be a plan, even in Silicon Valley. Just play the game and use the rules to your advantage.
Physicists get Hadrons!
What i found most interesting about the article:
> The Bay Area boasts many sites suitable for modular rental housing, undeveloped so far largely because the cost of traditional building is too high for the rent the facilities could generate
If even in the Bay Area the Rent cannot pay for building houses .... where can it? Or is building in the Bay Area soo much more expensive?
Ah, the Foxconn Housing Model, with an American twist - how "inventive".
Ken
Isn't that sort of how it works in China? You live in corporate "dorms"?
conditions in the bitmines were deplorable back in '17...
We lost 217 coders to Starbucks butt just in April.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Also modular construction, although I expect this is nowhere what Google has in mind.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Google builds shanty town for underpaid disposable workers, tape at 11 ..
So you slap a prefab on a small lot. The prefab costs 10K, the value of the lot is 1M. Does that make sense? Maybe the lot is on government land and you seem to be getting it almost free ... it's not free however. It's worth 1,000,000 today and far more tomorrow.
That land value has to be considered. It is far more important than the box you put on it. The only way to maximize the use of that land is to build up. Skyscrapers. Then you can house 500 people on 10M worth of land.
...omphaloskepsis often...
This sounds a lot like corporate feudalism.
It takes years of hard work to become a Fireman. It's a highly desirable job. Folks work for years as EMTs beforehand.
And what about the other jobs I cited? Should everyone be forced to do shift work, live away from their families, maintain separate residences just to provide services to a lucky, wealthy few? How bad of a quality of life are you personally willing to allow? There was just a store on the Indonesians who make Ivanka Trump's cloths (it made the news because she's been making the rounds talking about work/life balance). America could easily go that route and 'solve' the housing crisis but just not caring. After all, it's not a crisis if nobody thinks it is.
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A return to Paternalism w/ company-owned FEMA trailers! George Pullman would be proud.
The rest of the country calls them company owned trailer parks.
It will be housing for the H1-b visa holders.
It will still be an upgrade from Calcutta, for a few months at least.
Then it will resemble Calcutta.
Larry and servers house. That way everyone would be collocates...
Property values aren't likely to drop significantly in the next decade or so, in fact they're very likely to increase
Sure, because that's what happens when you have a bubble.
Google, Apple, Amazon, Facebook (I think) amongst others are all in and around that area, and they pay very well.
Well, with the possible exception of any h/w development / testing, those companies should be able to operate with pretty much all workers being remote.
I think it would be much more productive to invest the money in making remote working (even) more pervasive that is reacting to the fact that folks are clustering into over-crowded regions.
There can be a plan, even in Silicon Valley. Just play the game and use the rules to your advantage.
Right. But it's a bubble (or roulette wheel). You timed it right, but pretty much by definition for there's gonna be a lot of folks who don't. Of course, you could make the same argument about the stock market.