I wonder why more people don't choose to move to places like Detroit, Cleveland, and Buffalo where housing is dirt cheap. There aren't many jobs there, but if you are working for yourself it shouldn't really matter.
The Bay is very kind to Homo sapiens, in terms of climate.
This is not "I've lost everything and am homeless with no way out" it's "I wanna build a startup so I'm going to go live in a van".
Landlords very often just won't take you on at all if you don't show evidence of preëxisting stability. No proof of stable income? No housing—you can even offer to pay up-front or whatever, and they just won't bother dealing with you as a special case, because why would they deal with the special case when there's a dozen other safe, predictable, normal people in line behind you?
Got an income, but can't prove it to be consistently enough? Congratulations, no housing for you. And thus begins the downward spiral.
I had to get my parents to co-sign on a lease... at 27, with a PhD, proof of employment, and "excellent" credit. It's pretty insane.
I doubt most of the folk we dealt with would have taken us on even if I had offered to pay a full year's rent up front. It's just not worth the bother when there's a dual-income, no-kids couple with good credit next in line.
I so want to do it again, but now I have kids.
I would definitely move back there instead of living in a van in SF. It would probably even be cheaper.
Other initiatives like urban farming could be done as well. I think detroit is super fertile.
Imagine what just a billion dollar fund could do for tech in that region.
Lots of good for tech.
Should we send buses or just have some people go through and chase the current residents away on foot?
That said, I'm in on the concept. For a few months a year (at most), I just need a small, private, quiet room with net, electric, and heat. Other amenities can be shared.
With a good plan and some solid leadership, I'd put money into it. But, there'd have to be some sort of contractual way to slow gentrification, if it took off.
Alameda naval station chose to just try to build a big metal wall in the ground to capture the leakage as opposed to spending the money to clean up the toxicity...