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> It's a direct result of the rise of a wildly profitable tech industry in those cities. Connect the dots for me. How is the increase of the homeless populati

• abalone 8y ago
  I’ll bite.. increased housing demand raises rents, the “main culprit” in the recent homelessness increase.[1] [1] https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2017/11/06/west-coast-homeless-crisis-california-oregon-washington/ https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2017/11/06/west-coast-home...
  • niij 8y ago
    Why is supply not keeping up? I think it's because of an artificial cap on housing.
    • abalone 8y ago
      This is a separate question. Thanks for your thought. There are other possibilities. Like, say, insatiable demand from around the country and world from people who'd love to move to SF to make their play in the tech boom. But the fact remains that the tech boom has created a sudden surge in housing demand from people making a lot more than working class folks.
      • mixedCase 8y ago
        If it's in high demand and supply is being artificially restricted, how would it not be "insatiable"?
        • abalone 8y ago
          Inelastic demand. Even with full throttle development, when you have a whole country (nay, world) of tech industry professionals would want to move to the heart of their industry in a boom time, you may not see much movement in price. Consider that all that worldwide demand would need to be soaked up before prices come down to working class affordable levels. We see inelastic demand with disasters as well as economic booms centered around geographic areas. You see something similar in the phenomenon of how adding more lanes to roads doesn't necessarily relieve congestion.