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In America's Big Tech Cities, More People Are Now Living In Their Vehicles (cbsnews.com)
An anonymous reader quotes CBS MoneyWatch:
The number of people residing in campers and other vehicles surged 46 percent over the past year, a recent homeless census in Seattle's King County, Washington found. The problem is "exploding" in cities with expensive housing markets, including Los Angeles, Portland and San Francisco, according to Governing magazine. The problem of vehicle residency is national in scope, although its impact may be more "acutely felt in urban areas where space is more limited," said Sara Rankin, an assistant professor law at Seattle University and the director of Homeless Rights Advocacy Project, in an email to CBS MoneyWatch.
"Amazon, Microsoft and other big tech companies are in the Seattle area," notes Zero Hedge, adding "It is a region that is supposedly 'prospering', and yet this is going on."
Back in Silicon Valley, one Google employee slept in a truck in Google's parking lot for two years -- allowing him to save at least $48,000 that he would've paid in rent -- though many vehicle-dwellers apparently have non-technical jobs as plumbers, janitors, and even teachers. "A fair number of the 'vehicular homeless' in Silicon Valley are employed but are unable to find affordable housing," reports CBS, citing an AP article last November about "Silicon Valley's car people".
"Lines of RVs can be found near the headquarters of tech heavyweights such as Apple, Google and Hewlett-Packard."
"Amazon, Microsoft and other big tech companies are in the Seattle area," notes Zero Hedge, adding "It is a region that is supposedly 'prospering', and yet this is going on."
Back in Silicon Valley, one Google employee slept in a truck in Google's parking lot for two years -- allowing him to save at least $48,000 that he would've paid in rent -- though many vehicle-dwellers apparently have non-technical jobs as plumbers, janitors, and even teachers. "A fair number of the 'vehicular homeless' in Silicon Valley are employed but are unable to find affordable housing," reports CBS, citing an AP article last November about "Silicon Valley's car people".
"Lines of RVs can be found near the headquarters of tech heavyweights such as Apple, Google and Hewlett-Packard."
I'm going to go look at a bus tomorrow. It's cheaper than we paid for a high-top Sprinter and has half the miles. It's only partly about the cheap housing, and partly about fires. If you have to bug out from a fire, it's a lot nicer if you can take your whole house with you. The house we lived in for the last eleven years just burned down (two months after we moved out!) in a small fire in Lake County, CA, which even people living under rocks know is currently massively ablaze. We live in a redwood forest clearing in Albion at the moment...
The plan is to title it as an RV, at which point you don't need any special driver's license to operate it as long as it's under 40' in overall length, bumper to bumper, regardless of whether it's got air brakes or what the GVWR is. RV insurance is also incredibly cheap, while commercial vehicle insurance is credibly expensive.
If you give up fixed addresses, you can essentially make yourself a resident of another state, which has all kinds of advantages. South Dakota is one very popular option, because they have lax requirements for housecar registration, a low tax rate, and cheap registration fees. And you never even have to go there at all in order to accomplish your registration, get mail forwarding, etc. This is only my backup plan, though. I'm in contact with a registration service which claims it can accomplish the title conversion in 2-3 days.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
The housing problem is 100% due to NIMBYism. People that are already here can vote, and benefit from rising housing values. People that don't live here, but want to, don't get a vote. So the politicians represent the wishes of the voters and block new housing construction.
The "traffic problems" is a totally backwards excuse. As people are forced further and further out into the exburbs, their commutes become longer and traffic gets worse. At rush hour, figure two hours from Gilroy to Mountain View. More high-rise housing in the core of Silicon Valley would be a great relief to traffic congestion.
Some economic analyses have concluded that "progressive" restrictions on growth and housing contribute to inequality as much as regressive conservative tax cuts. The rich see their million dollar houses soar in value, while the poor are squeezed out of economic opportunities.
If the companies would put up buildings ...
Many Silicon Valley companies would LOVE to be able to build housing for their employees. Probability of them getting permits to do so: 0%.
....here's a tip: MOVE.
The entire midsection of the country is facing unemployment levels the lowest they've been in 20 years. Real wages are going up, and the cost of living is HALF (or less) than it is on the coasts.
Find out what REAL "quality of life" means when it's not measured in Starbucks per square mile. Where you can actually see the stars?
https://www.washingtonpost.com...
Actually, better: no. Please DON'T move to the midsection of the country. It's terrible here. Much better to live in your car.
-Styopa
It's got an even older name; a company town.
They got a bad rep for a number of reasons, like the fact that they gave the company way too much control over workers lives. Companies could set arbitrary prices on goods, charging whatever they wanted. Plus if you got fired you not only lost your job, you also got booted out of your house.
Also if the company went tits up so did the town, which kinda sucked.
Turns out they weren't that great of an idea after all.