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I visited San Francisco last week (for the Microsoft Build conference). Having read here on HN about the housing problems and high rents I was surprised to see

I visited San Francisco last week (for the Microsoft Build conference). Having read here on HN about the housing problems and high rents I was surprised to see quite a lot of poorly maintained buildings, if you go a bit outside the centre. From my perspective, there seems lots of room for building and improvement. They could take down blocks and build more densely while improving quality. As in all US cities, a lot of room is used by cars. Looking at my hometown Amsterdam, there are places like Java Eiland, (https://www.amsterdam.nl/javaeiland/ https://www.amsterdam.nl/javaeiland/) an old harbor dock where they built 8500 high quality appartments housing 18.000 people, on an area of only 1.3km x 130m. I think solutions like that could work in San Francisco too.

henrikschroder 11y ago
I'm also from northern Europe, and the average housing standard here is absolutely crap compared to where I'm from. For fun, try browsing apartments here on craigslist and you'll get to see the interiors as well. And when you then look at the prices of these things, it all seems like a cruel joke. If you just visited the conference you probably didn't see Mission Bay, but they are doing the same here as in most other coastal cities, i.e. repurposing old harbour industrial zones and building large apartment buildings, it's just way, way too little, too late. But I agree with you that there are so many city blocks that currently house a bunch of poorly maintained two-story buildings that should just be demolished and replaced with a single modern, tall residential building. There is nothing of value to preserve there.
- 650REDHAIR 11y ago
  The Mission Bay properties are also ridiculously expensive and the first few buildings were basically student/PhD housing.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
khuey 11y ago
You can make a ton of money by renting your property regardless of whether the building is well maintained or not, so why bother?

henrikschroder 11y ago

I'm also from northern Europe, and the average housing standard here is absolutely crap compared to where I'm from. For fun, try browsing apartments here on craigslist and you'll get to see the interiors as well. And when you then look at the prices of these things, it all seems like a cruel joke. If you just visited the conference you probably didn't see Mission Bay, but they are doing the same here as in most other coastal cities, i.e. repurposing old harbour industrial zones and building large apartment buildings, it's just way, way too little, too late. But I agree with you that there are so many city blocks that currently house a bunch of poorly maintained two-story buildings that should just be demolished and replaced with a single modern, tall residential building. There is nothing of value to preserve there.

650REDHAIR 11y ago
The Mission Bay properties are also ridiculously expensive and the first few buildings were basically student/PhD housing.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

khuey 11y ago

You can make a ton of money by renting your property regardless of whether the building is well maintained or not, so why bother?