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Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F

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Re: Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F

#451

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lack of jobs and crushing taxes more like. Social safety nets aren't all they're cracked up to be, and leaves people trapped in that system forever.

Really? Living in a country with a safety net, it looks pretty damn positive to me, you get unemployment checks while you're unemployed which makes it much easier to take your time to find a good next job.

The United States has unemployment benefits [1].

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unemployment_benefits_in_the_U...

Re: Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F

#452
post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Point taken, but I don't think you're taking into account the monumental impact of COVID-19. We've never had such a large, immediate, and impactful shift to work culture. Working remote was still a niche idea at the beginning of 2020, now it's ubiquitous. That has never happened before.

I think the shift to remote work is temporary. There will almost certainly be a relatively large crash in commercial real estate, but it will recover, probably within a year or maybe two.

I don’t think so. Being able to offload that capital expense is huge. I have to imagine many companies will decide to just keep it that way.

Re: Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F

#453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? Living in a country with a safety net, it looks pretty damn positive to me, you get unemployment checks while you're unemployed which makes it much easier to take your time to find a good next job.

The United States has unemployment benefits [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unemployment_benefits_in_the_U...

Yes, but I have a feeling that's what the GP refers to when they say "trapped forever". I don't feel like our system traps you at all, so I was wondering why the GP feels that people get trapped.

Re: Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F

#454

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The United States has unemployment benefits [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unemployment_benefits_in_the_U...

Yes, but I have a feeling that's what the GP refers to when they say "trapped forever". I don't feel like our system traps you at all, so I was wondering why the GP feels that people get trapped.

Sorry, I misunderstood the context. I thought you were from outside the United States as the origination of your comment.My fault!

Re: Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F

#455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Especially good if the converted office space also provides a good work from home environment. Or... you know... just give homeless people housing?

Is there data supporting the conclusion that lack of housing is what causes homelessness? I always thought that it was more of a failure of the social safety net.

I don't know about that, however there is data that shows that providing homes to the homeless is a net win for society: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_First

Re: Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F

#456

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The United States has unemployment benefits [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unemployment_benefits_in_the_U...

Yes, but I have a feeling that's what the GP refers to when they say "trapped forever". I don't feel like our system traps you at all, so I was wondering why the GP feels that people get trapped.

[deleted]

Re: Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F

#457

A close relative of mine is a top real estate appraiser based in San Francisco, and she's terrified about what happens in Q2 2021, when leases will start terminating en masse. She's had a call with the St. Louis Fed, as they're trying to get an idea of what this will look like. She thinks it will be a bloodbath, and deal a death blow to corporate real estate (and other capital markets by extension).

The other week I was on real estate sites and I saw a bunch of "apartments" in SOMA that just looked like offices with some hastily slapped on anemities, as if there was some "wink wink nudge nudge" going on and they had to call the place an "apartment" for some city ordinance but everyone knew it was an office. However, I realized it was exactly the opposite. These people were taking their office spaces and desperat…

How does that work? Typical office space typically has no kitchens, offers limited restrooms (and showers are still rare), has no noise isolation for someone who wants to watch TV, listen to the music, or just snore away into the sunrise.

Outside of some makeshift co-living shelter-like concept it does not seem that convertible.

Re: Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F

#458

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The United States has unemployment benefits [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unemployment_benefits_in_the_U...

Yes, but I have a feeling that's what the GP refers to when they say "trapped forever". I don't feel like our system traps you at all, so I was wondering why the GP feels that people get trapped.

They're probably referring to the "welfare trap"[0].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_trap

Re: Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F

#459

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but I have a feeling that's what the GP refers to when they say "trapped forever". I don't feel like our system traps you at all, so I was wondering why the GP feels that people get trapped.

Sorry, I misunderstood the context. I thought you were from outside the United States as the origination of your comment.My fault!

No sorry, I confused you even more. I am from outside the US, I think my country's system doesn't trap you, so I was wondering why the US one does.

Re: Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F

#460

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but I have a feeling that's what the GP refers to when they say "trapped forever". I don't feel like our system traps you at all, so I was wondering why the GP feels that people get trapped.

They're probably referring to the "welfare trap"[0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_trap

Ahh, I see, thank you, that makes sense.
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