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Living in a parking lot in Santa Barbara

latimes.com

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Re: Living in a parking lot in Santa Barbara

#151

Post by orangecat »

antif wrote: post #63
grandmczeb wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is the the real cost of allowing (particularly foreign) capital to be parked in real estate in the developed world. It's amazing to me that people don't recognize this as xenophobia when other forms ("Mexicans are taking our jobs!", "Migrants don't have the same values!") are so readily called out. High housing prices are a self inflicted problem. When you mix supply restrictions with tax breaks explicitly des…

California Proposition 13, to me, has been a ticking time-bomb of a 'youth tax' over the past forty years. As much as I respect that it serves to protect the vulnerable and elderly from heightening costs, it has unduly shifted that burden onto everyone else. I believe todays homelessness is surely in part being caused by this untouchable stick-in-the-mud legislation. Property tax appraisals for neighboring houses are…

As much as I respect that it serves to protect the vulnerable and elderly from heightening costs

And I would even question that. If your house has appreciated so much that you can't afford the property taxes, so you're "forced" to sell it for a huge profit...maybe in an ideal world that wouldn't happen, but it's nowhere near the top of my list of injustices that need to be fixed.

Re: Living in a parking lot in Santa Barbara

#152

Post by s73ver_ »

rleigh wrote: post #53
pjmorris wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My metric for food price is calories per penny. For example, the 760 calorie slice of pizza for $1.99 at Costco works out to about 3.8 calories per penny, while the 500 calorie Caesar salad for $3.99 works out to about 1.3 calories per penny. In my worked example, the fresh food is more expensive than the junk food from the point of view of 'How much money do I need to spend to keep myself alive today?' Could you pos…

You can buy an entire sackful of potatoes for around the cost of two slices of pizza, and it'll last for weeks. Or several pounds of flour which will likewise last for a while--you could make your pizza bases in a few minutes if you wanted to, then just add the toppings you want. These are all vastly better value for money than buying pre-made food. I don't buy for a moment that processed food is cheaper than the raw…

"I don't buy for a moment that processed food is cheaper than the raw ingredients. The processing has a significant cost. The main factor for many people is pure laziness--they can't be bothered to spend 10 minutes preparing stuff; they'd rather waste money on processed food."

When was the last time you worked multiple jobs, and had to take care for kids? That 10 minutes is not readily available.

Re: Living in a parking lot in Santa Barbara

#153

Post by TheCoelacanth »

beamatronic wrote: post #93
SilasX wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IIRC, planning commission members couldn't afford to live in Palo Alto.

The official poverty line is $250k household income in Palo Alto.

I believe this is a misinterpretation of a news story about Palo Alto considering subsidizing housing for households making under $250k. It is not the poverty threshold, it is just a hypothetical cutoff for qualifying for housing subsidization in one housing plan that Palo Alto considered.

Re: Living in a parking lot in Santa Barbara

#154

Post by htormey »

lsc wrote: post #108
losteric wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His anecdote is more powerful because of his income. You'd expect someone with low income to have trouble finding housing... that's a problem, but the situation makes sense. When someone struggles to find housing while making multiples of middle income, something is deeply fucked. That says a lot about how bad it is for everyone else.

>You'd expect someone with low income to have trouble finding housing... that's a problem, but the situation makes sense. When someone struggles to find housing while making multiples of middle income, something is deeply fucked. That says a lot about how bad it is for everyone else. I... disagree that upper middle income immigrants having a hard time says anything definitive about the situation of the local poor, at…

Just in case someone reads the above comment the wrong way: Rent control in San Francisco is not tied to a tenants income but rather the age of the building.

It’s entirely possible for someone who works in a wealthy person job (tech) to have a rent controlled apartment.

Re: Living in a parking lot in Santa Barbara

#155

Post by brandonmenc »

>Phil said people may wonder why vehicle dwellers like himself don't move in with family. Well, good for those who are able, but easier said than done, said Phil. His son is already sharing space because of the high cost of housing.

Again, this just boggles my mind.

I understand there are people who are on bad terms with their family, but sans that, I cannot imagine a situation where my 60+ year old parents living alone in a van is in any way better than all of us sharing a studio apartment, even if we were sleeping on the floor.

Re: Living in a parking lot in Santa Barbara

#156

Post by darreld »

tempz wrote: post #12

There is a linguistic problem here - extending the term 'middle class' to hide prevailing poverty in the US. You are not middle class if: - you will lose home, car if you are out of job for 6-10 months; - you don't take 30 days vacation a year; - you cannot afford health services without going to debt; - you cannot send your kids to university; - your diet is mostly junk food because you can't afford fresh stuff. If…

I’m a senior developer in the Washington DC area and 1) I definitely do not take 30 days vacation per year and 2) I can assure you that I would lose my house and probably more if I was out of a job for 6-10 months. So I guess regardless of the very good salary I make, I’m poor?

Re: Living in a parking lot in Santa Barbara

#157

Post by b4lancesh33t »

aphextron wrote: post #34

I'll be facing this soon as well, at least they've got RV's. After getting back from my third open house for the week, with double digit atendees, I think the bay area just isn't for me. A perfect credit score and a job making double the median wage is not enough to land a 1 bedroom apartment apparently. I'll probably end up sleeping on someones couch for a few months to finish my work contract, and get out of this h…

You make $160k and cannot get a one bedroom apartment in SF? I don't think the prices are that high.

Re: Living in a parking lot in Santa Barbara

#158

Post by rayiner »

Thlom wrote: post #123
johnnyb9 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seem to have left out the fact that Americans make much more than their Canadian, Western European, or Australian counterparts?

Just checked. Scandinavian countries, Australia and Luxembourg have higher median household income than the U.S.

So like 20 million people? What about the countries that make up the vast majority of Europe? Median income is much higher in the US than in UK, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy.

Re: Living in a parking lot in Santa Barbara

#159

Post by stevenwoo »

peterburkimsher wrote: post #122

I was an exchange student at UCSB for 1 year. The US government caused me a lot of visa issues because I didn't have $25,000 cash, which meant that I couldn't get a job and had to pay $900 in fees for a visa application that was eventually denied. Due to family issues, I also wasn't getting support from my parents that year. AS CAB (the Associated Students Community Affairs Board) gave out free hot dogs on Tuesday ni…

Where did you go for the situation to change so drastically?

Re: Living in a parking lot in Santa Barbara

#160

Post by sjg007 »

pfranz wrote: post #112
merb wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> entire sackful of potatoes if you have a kitchen to cook them, yes. else you probably have just a sack of vegetables that nobody could eat in his raw form. living in a box means eating pre-made food and you can buy healthy pre-made food (like the cesars salad) it's just not affordable.

I don't think a majority of people who are poor are lacking access to basic cookware or some means to cook food. You can purchase a brand new Crock-Pot for $15. I do think there's an under appreciation for how time-poor most people are (moreso the less money you have). Or how a lack of basic cooking skills or knowledge keep people buying fast food instead of buying and preparing fresh, healthier food at home. I've in…

Nowaday you don’t need a kitchen to cook. Pizza/toaster oven, sous vide machine/crock pot/instapot, hot plate/griddle or George foreman or a blow torch, microwave and a fridge.
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