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I don’t see how the SF Bay Area is more geographically isolated than other regions in the US, could you elaborate? Rent driving lower income people out of the

I don’t see how the SF Bay Area is more geographically isolated than other regions in the US, could you elaborate? Rent driving lower income people out of the area is possible, but these articles can paint an exaggerated picture of what’s happening. The areas where techies are moving in en masse are not everywhere; SF and Mountain View are neither the entirety nor representative of the SF Bay Area, they’re just what you’ll see articles on here about most often.

matt_s 8y ago
By that I meant that it doesn't have land west for suburban sprawl to occur with cheaper rent areas. People can move farther out to east but then like another commenter stated they have a 3 hour commute. At some point maybe people give up on that and move out of the overall area?
- jonathanyc 8y ago
  Are there places where there is land for suburban sprawl to occur that doesn’t involve a commute? I really don’t understand how SF is supposed to be a special case. Look at Hong Kong—even more dense and even higher rents. It’s a counterpoint to almost any claim to SF exceptionalism.
bittercynic 8y ago
I live in Silicon Valley, and of the people I know well enough to discuss these things, every one who doesn't own their home is experiencing some level of distress about rising housing costs. My anecdata isn't proof that the article isn't exaggerated, but the article is pretty consistent with my experience. Just sayin'.
- jonathanyc 8y ago
  I grew up in the East Bay. Techies aren’t the entirety of NorCal’s population, and the areas populated by techies aren’t the entirety of NorCal. Rising housing costs are a real problem for the kind of people we might meet at work or networking (assuming you’re also in the tech industry). But this is a very biased sample. As soon as you go a little out of the peninsula there is farmland, for Pete’s sake.
beamatronic 8y ago
Drive on Highway 280 and marvel at the “protected space”. From San Jose to SF, 50 miles and only a handful of houses. Do we really need all that green space in prime housing locations?
- cgriswald 8y ago
  There are huge chunks of that land that isn't protected (.e.g., all the land surrounding CA-92 corridor, except the region next to the reservoir), and yet there are no houses there. It is all hills, and many of those hills are particularly hard, making them less-than-ideal for building housing. I suspect even if you opened up all the protected space, you'd only end up with a lot of sprawl, but not much of an impact on housing availability. It would be far easier and cheaper to build up in existing areas (with the added benefit of preserving all that land). That said, the complete lack of development still surprises me a little, with the region around 280/Sand Hill being the most confusing. It's unprotected, seems outside any municipality, is largely flat, and is close to basically everything.

matt_s 8y ago

By that I meant that it doesn't have land west for suburban sprawl to occur with cheaper rent areas. People can move farther out to east but then like another commenter stated they have a 3 hour commute. At some point maybe people give up on that and move out of the overall area?

jonathanyc 8y ago
Are there places where there is land for suburban sprawl to occur that doesn’t involve a commute? I really don’t understand how SF is supposed to be a special case. Look at Hong Kong—even more dense and even higher rents. It’s a counterpoint to almost any claim to SF exceptionalism.

bittercynic 8y ago

I live in Silicon Valley, and of the people I know well enough to discuss these things, every one who doesn't own their home is experiencing some level of distress about rising housing costs. My anecdata isn't proof that the article isn't exaggerated, but the article is pretty consistent with my experience. Just sayin'.

jonathanyc 8y ago
I grew up in the East Bay. Techies aren’t the entirety of NorCal’s population, and the areas populated by techies aren’t the entirety of NorCal. Rising housing costs are a real problem for the kind of people we might meet at work or networking (assuming you’re also in the tech industry). But this is a very biased sample. As soon as you go a little out of the peninsula there is farmland, for Pete’s sake.

beamatronic 8y ago

Drive on Highway 280 and marvel at the “protected space”. From San Jose to SF, 50 miles and only a handful of houses. Do we really need all that green space in prime housing locations?

cgriswald 8y ago
There are huge chunks of that land that isn't protected (.e.g., all the land surrounding CA-92 corridor, except the region next to the reservoir), and yet there are no houses there. It is all hills, and many of those hills are particularly hard, making them less-than-ideal for building housing. I suspect even if you opened up all the protected space, you'd only end up with a lot of sprawl, but not much of an impact on housing availability. It would be far easier and cheaper to build up in existing areas (with the added benefit of preserving all that land). That said, the complete lack of development still surprises me a little, with the region around 280/Sand Hill being the most confusing. It's unprotected, seems outside any municipality, is largely flat, and is close to basically everything.