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Poor Kids of Silicon Valley

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Re: Poor Kids of Silicon Valley

#41

Post by codemac »

mgraczyk wrote: post #20

This may not be the most popular thing to say, but ... Just move? If you are the head of a large household living in an area where the cost of living is too high to support your dependents, you would do a whole lot of good for them and yourself by starting new in some other part of the country. At the very least it would be wise to relocate across the Bay. I realize that people have families, social networks, and sma…

Moving is expensive too.

If you're hand-to-mouth poor, you cannot afford a rental truck, let alone time off work and still feed your children. You will probably lose your job if you move, and not find another one where you land, especially if you're in the service industry. Good luck with that East bay -> peninsula commute on your minimum wage. The reason many cannot get jobs other places is due to felonies or other legal issues related to being poor.

If your children are in school a lot of parents would actually rather struggle than put their family through the trauma of a move, even if in the end it may be better.

American society is more mobile than others, but poverty (outside of vagrancy) is extremely restricting.

I do think your main thesis is correct (this is unmaintainable, gtfo), but moving is a multi-year struggle of planning and saving at these low levels of income.

This is at it's core class struggle, not individual unawareness.

Re: Poor Kids of Silicon Valley

#42

Post by benten10 »

SoftwareMaven wrote: post #25
mgraczyk wrote: post #20

This may not be the most popular thing to say, but ... Just move? If you are the head of a large household living in an area where the cost of living is too high to support your dependents, you would do a whole lot of good for them and yourself by starting new in some other part of the country. At the very least it would be wise to relocate across the Bay. I realize that people have families, social networks, and sma…

It costs a lot to move, especially when you are unskilled and have no idea if you will be able to find employment wherever you end up. It is made worse when you are participating in any sort of social safety net because you don't know if you'll have that available when you get wherever the grass is greener. And that says nothing about social and familial networks.

Thank you!

I can see how one might feel 'just move' is a good argument, but really NO! In chinatowns all over the country, whenever low-income residents are being priced out, the argument is always 'you can just find another place to stay'. They've lived there for decades, if not more. That's where all the people they know are. They are poor but they do have a support system, that lives with them. When they move away, not only are they economically helpless, but also socially helpless.

To tell people to just 'move away' is very dense, IMHO. You might not feel the same way about places you live in, but some people feel VERY STRONGLY emotionally about where they live. Consider the fact that when there's natural disasters/flood/earthquake/radiation leaks, there's not insignificant percentage of people who would rather stay where they are and suffer the consequences rather than move away. Which is why evacuations often have to be FORCED! People would rather die than move away from their homes. You cannot just say 'they can just move away': the concerns are valid.

Re: Poor Kids of Silicon Valley

#43

Post by Domenic_S »

mgraczyk wrote: post #20

This may not be the most popular thing to say, but ... Just move? If you are the head of a large household living in an area where the cost of living is too high to support your dependents, you would do a whole lot of good for them and yourself by starting new in some other part of the country. At the very least it would be wise to relocate across the Bay. I realize that people have families, social networks, and sma…

I was sitting here trying to figure out how to say basically the same thing. Growing up my dad had a good job but we never were able to afford to live in $NEAREST_METRO_AREA, so we always lived a commute away -- sometimes a long commute away.

Charity idea: provide moving & job placement help to get homeless or nearly homeless families into lower cost of living areas.

I always have mixed feelings about stories like this. Like the woman from the first video: homeless, just got a garage for her and her 18-month-old. Pregnant again. Kids do not make your financial situation better or life less stressful.

The kids didn't ask for poverty and it's not their fault -- all true. But what do we do, enforce reproduction strategy at gunpoint?

Re: Poor Kids of Silicon Valley

#44

Post by dvirsky »

As someone from outside the US, how much do you need to earn in order to live well in this area? There was one slide stating a minimum of $100K for a family of four just to "escape poverty". Is that really the case?

And if so, how do early stage founders who aren't already rich manage to get by?

Re: Poor Kids of Silicon Valley

#45

Post by tlrobinson »

serge2k wrote: post #18
nsnick wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely, we need more government regulations and programs not less. Removing zoning laws can't possibly be the solution. Maybe we can have the government give housing to poor families, thereby taking housing stock off the market and reducing supply.

Revamping zoning laws probably is the solution. Make it easier to build more housing.

I think the parent commenter was being sarcastic and would agree with you.

Re: Poor Kids of Silicon Valley

#46

Post by jcdavis »

mgraczyk wrote: post #20

This may not be the most popular thing to say, but ... Just move? If you are the head of a large household living in an area where the cost of living is too high to support your dependents, you would do a whole lot of good for them and yourself by starting new in some other part of the country. At the very least it would be wise to relocate across the Bay. I realize that people have families, social networks, and sma…

You mean well, but its easy to forget that moving a family a long distance costs a nontrivial amount of money, even if you do it on the cheap. Maybe not a problem for you or me, but much more so for a family already barely scraping by.

Re: Poor Kids of Silicon Valley

#47

Post by Kalium »

nikhizzle wrote: post #39
Kalium wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Push for policy changes that allow for the addition of enough housing to bring down prices.

Please elaborate. I'm not well versed in the world of policy. How can I push for these changes? What are the changes?

In SF, building regulations includes very powerful neighborhood groups with the ability to make arbitrary changes to projects. The net result of their involvement tends to be less housing at higher cost.

There are also many areas zoned for a maximum height of zero feet.

As for how to be involved, start by looking up who your city councilperson is. Talking to them would be a good start.

Re: Poor Kids of Silicon Valley

#48

Post by kaonashi »

mgraczyk wrote: post #20

This may not be the most popular thing to say, but ... Just move? If you are the head of a large household living in an area where the cost of living is too high to support your dependents, you would do a whole lot of good for them and yourself by starting new in some other part of the country. At the very least it would be wise to relocate across the Bay. I realize that people have families, social networks, and sma…

Thanks for illustrating the attitudes that make these kinds of situations possible.

Re: Poor Kids of Silicon Valley

#50

Post by doki_pen »

Fix the public education system so that living in a poorer area doesn't mean your kids have zero chance at real success. We are moving more and more towards a caste-system where your parents success is the most important factor in your own success, as a child. It hurts us all when we don't have the most qualified people possible performing the important professions.
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