Space in big cities comes at a premium, but tech workers living in SF have hardly been living in squalor. Most of SF is single family homes, and the vast Bay Area beyond even more so.
Also, having done the spreadsheet many times myself, it’s almost never a raise to move to a low-cost area.
The reason people make that move is that they’ve accumulated so much wealth in SF that they can basically retire so long as they move to a low cost area.
Some people want to do that, and retire very young. Some people don’t, so they stay around until they’re wealthy enough to even afford nice properties in the bay area.
The reason for this giant shift, however, is very simply that the vast majority of city life is either closed or greatly impeded at the moment. So the experience of city life has been significantly degraded, and thus many people are now shifting toward places that offer very little except for nice, cheap property, and thus make a good place to hole up and hide out the pandemic.
I’m not so sure - housing is so expensive in the Bay Area it’s more than just moving to retire.
I grew up in Buffalo where housing is quite inexpensive so it’s more dramatic for me, but a small house to raise a family is 2.3 million on the peninsula, super old, pretty small (1600sqft), and being a new buyer your property tax on that is 23k per year.
That’s insane even if you get a million dollars in an exit or in google shares.
People just want to be able to have a family and a place to live.
My friends mostly left in their 30s to have kids (mostly Colorado, some Texas).
Even SF is cheaper than the peninsula for a new construction apartment (which don’t really exist in Palo Alto through Cupertino).
You can’t even really escape to Santa Cruz anymore - you’d have to go to Sacramento. At that point you might as well move across the country.
Frustrating bit to me is how unnecessary this is - just people who bought first protected by prop13 keeping the supply down for others.
There’s an irony in seeing people with a Black Lives Matter sign on the lawn, and pushing for No on 22, but when it comes to the most important way to actually help the most people (increasing housing supply) - they instead repeatedly argue against building new or high density housing. And they do this while pretending they’re in favor of housing at the same time.
One of the Palo Alto city council members says there’s no housing crisis - you just need a good realtor (like her). See: https://twitter.com/lydia_kou
Kitty on the planning commission in Cupertino says if they build housing single devs will turn their high school daughters into prostitutes.
People complain about building everywhere, but the housing policy/cost is abnormally bad here.
I’m in Sacramento, been here a few years. There’s definitely been people moving from the Bay out here. For some people, you can buy a large enough house with a yard, but you have the option of driving in to the Bay if you need to go in to your office from time to time, while mostly working remotely.
Certainly not the perfect option for everyone, but it works for some people.
I agree on the need for more multi-family housing. There’s been a boom of apartments and condos around Downtown and Midtown Sac, but they are all “luxury” units with the price tag to match. People not making a good salary don’t seem to be helped at all, so there needs to be more policy than just “build more rich people housing.”
But then again I was one renting a “luxury” apartment before I bought my condo in a gentrifying neighborhood, so maybe I’m part of the problem.
Increasing supply matters more than policy around what specific housing is built.
If you increase supply (even if all “luxury”) - older units become cheaper relative to new units. The supply is the most important bit.
Affordable housing policy is often pushed as a way to not really increase supply. They’ll build one price controlled housing unit that’s nearly impossible to get an apartment in and call it done.
Also, having done the spreadsheet many times myself, it’s almost never a raise to move to a low-cost area.
The reason people make that move is that they’ve accumulated so much wealth in SF that they can basically retire so long as they move to a low cost area.
Some people want to do that, and retire very young. Some people don’t, so they stay around until they’re wealthy enough to even afford nice properties in the bay area.
The reason for this giant shift, however, is very simply that the vast majority of city life is either closed or greatly impeded at the moment. So the experience of city life has been significantly degraded, and thus many people are now shifting toward places that offer very little except for nice, cheap property, and thus make a good place to hole up and hide out the pandemic.