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Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

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Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#21
post #16

Most of the bay area employees are divided into 3 categories from anecdotal experience: young rockstars that are willing to live in relative squalor for a chance to prove themselves, vested and moneyed elites (CEO's, presidents, VC funded overlords) who are so out of touch with the average employee its best they not show up to the office that frequently, and H1B visa recipients that endure the soul-crushing San Jose…

Is it worthwhile to work there for a few years as a 20-year old though? I'm thinking it's a unique experience even if monetarily it's a poor choice.

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#22

I don't want to live in California, but it seems like a lot of the recruiting and employment matchmaking systems these days focus almost entirely on the SF Bay area. Added: I think the hype might have pumped the job market too full, and net outflows are the only way for the system to concentrate more desirable candidates, with employee compensation being the signal.

I'm thinking it might be worthwhile to engineer a scalable, high-traffic city(maybe city's the wrong word, it could be sprawling and fast, instead of dense and slow) from the ground up, somewhere there isn't one already. You don't need to build the transit immediately, you just need to have the restraint to reserve the space for a time when you will want it. Other useful constraints aside from transit reservations, m…

Or just copy Singapore.

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#23
post #13
post #9

Austin resident here. My wife and I have been talking to renovators and have heard several times that projects simply take longer these days because many workers now must live farther out from the city core than they used to. I wouldn't be surprised the same thing happens here -- to a lesser degree perhaps, as we have more geographical space to expand into -- with avg commute time being the primary constraint on grow…

Yeah. It's not so much about distance, it's about time. Better infrastructure for moving people in and out of the city enables a larger city, and a more populated one.

I agree.

Six lanes of traffic moving an average speed of 25mph is a hell of a lot more net volume than three lanes at the same speed.

Good infrastructure also side steps a lot of the social problems that come with high population density.

Cue whining about how pollution and an over-priced mass-transit utopia and high rise apartments will solve all our problems.

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#24
I've been thinking that apartment cooperatives might be a way to break "investors'" stranglehold on housing.

The last landlord I had was a decent fellow - the property was well maintained and he fixed problems promptly. But my rent certainly went to pay his mortgage on the property, and I now have nothing to show for the $thousands I paid him. One time he was showing off the little 8-unit complex to someone he wanted to go into a partnership on another property with him.

My cousin has a few low-end houses that he rents out. He's jokingly referred to himself as a "slumlord", but... rent is what economically strangles his renters.

My grandparents owned both their homes free-and-clear, and stayed in their homes for 40-50 years. This is the hope of anyone who buys a house: independence from the landlord & bank.

The cooperative I'm envisioning would channel rent payments into a fund. After long enough, you'd be able to live there for just maintenance costs, or you could "work off" the monthly fee by contributing somehow. And if a person moves out of the coop, their "equity" could be returned to them over time... Or something like that.

(minor edit on 'work off')

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#26
I've only visited SF. From what I've seen, there are far better cities such as Seattle, San Diego, ect, ect. I live in Dallas and couldn't be happier. I've been able to start a family as a Postdoc!

http://dallas.culturemap.com/news/city-life/03-29-17-us-cens...

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#27
Why aren't tech companies buying or building massive apartment complexes, making them appealing with a few amenities, and renting them out for cheap to their employees? I know building development in San Francisco proper is limited, but in the general bay area or South is not. Now you have a very attractive package: a relatively big salary and somewhat affordable housing. Talent would be much more willing to relocate, even if your tech lab is outside San Francisco proper.

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#29
post #13
post #9

Austin resident here. My wife and I have been talking to renovators and have heard several times that projects simply take longer these days because many workers now must live farther out from the city core than they used to. I wouldn't be surprised the same thing happens here -- to a lesser degree perhaps, as we have more geographical space to expand into -- with avg commute time being the primary constraint on grow…

Yeah. It's not so much about distance, it's about time. Better infrastructure for moving people in and out of the city enables a larger city, and a more populated one.

Time and time variance on travel. I know a contractor that has moved out of Seattle because he naturally needed to go to a lot of different locations and the really long and unpredictable travel times made his work very difficult. The pay and availability of jobs will be less at his new place, but lower housing costs and little traffic made the move worth trying in his case.

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#30
Could somebody please explain why in a region with just about more millionaires and billionaires than anywhere else, there is almost[1] no serious muscle for residential development?

Perhaps I am naive, but it is my understanding that many of the wealthy people of the Bay Area made the majority of their money through commerce and technology, not by purchasing a house a few years or decades ago and quashing any attempt at increasing the housing stock.

Would it not be in the self interest of all tech corporations, executives, venture capitalists and angel investors in Silicon Valley to ensure the development of housing for their future tech employees - and thus spur their future profits - and the greater economy's service workers?

Even if one buys the insane argument that service workers perhaps ought not to live in the expensive Bay Area, one still must acknowledge that these line chefs, janitors, security guards, hairdressers and many others must live and commute in from somewhere, which affects everybody in the Bay Area, regardless of their wealth.

Everything about Silicon Valley makes sense to me but this.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/oct/02/rise-of-the-y...

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