Silicon Valley's Van-Dwellers [audio] | Hacker News Reader

Silicon Valley's Van-Dwellers [audio]

bloomberg.com

34 pointsjason_zig11 comments

This seems the only option I would accept for moving to the SV. Live in a van for a couple of years, earn tech salary, save your $$$, buy a flat in the Europe instantly without mortgage. Paying 3k$ for a night shelter is an ultimate absurd, imo.

Most people who live in SF are either insane aspirationally rich (spending all of their money, saving nothing) or actually rich.

$25k USD/month rent for a 2BR/2.5BA is ridiculous https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/apa/d/san-francisco-the-mil...

Haha,really dude? Your example was a penthouse in Millennium Tower? What does this even demonstrate about SF costs? It's like the saying, oh look how rich people from Washington are, Gates and Bezos!

From the description:

> second bedroom welcomes you with 24-carat gold plated door hinges and switch plates. It boasts a custom walnut boxed ceiling and includes a built-in custom Stockinger safe with a high-gloss lacquer finish and gold fittings imported from Germany as well as a curved soffit with custom plated metal panels. A hidden storage area behind the north wall is accessed by a door blended into the wall paneling.

Another interesting piece with interviews of people living in RVs in Silicon Valley:

https://www.topic.com/life-inside-the-rvs-of-silicon-valley

> Ellen Tara James-Penney, a 54-year-old lecturer at San Jose State University, parks her old Volvo at one of those safe-haven churches, Grace Baptist Church, and eats in its dining hall. She is paid $28,000 a year to teach four English classes and is carrying $143,000 in student debt after earning two degrees.

Can't imagine having a lecturer that sleeps in their car. A sorry state of affairs.

Should probably be tagged with (podcast)

[audio] added. Thanks!

This is from 2017, but it looks like the count for RVs in Mountain View was 330 back then if you're curious:

https://nypost.com/2017/11/07/silicon-valleys-car-people-pus...

Every single such problem can be traced down to NIMBYs and prop 13

And CEQA, trade unions, rent control, zoning, etc.

Trade unions have absolutely nothing to do with this. Unions built the middle-class, irrational hate against unions and canonizing of nationalist, militarist corporate blind devotion against one's own interests further eroded the middle-class.

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