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"Bhakta, a San Francisco native and tenant organizer for affordable housing nonprofit Mission Housing, is well-versed in the seismic impact that the growth of t

by tqi 6y ago

"Bhakta, a San Francisco native and tenant organizer for affordable housing nonprofit Mission Housing, is well-versed in the seismic impact that the growth of the tech industry has had on the city. As software companies expanded over the past decade, they drew thousands of well-off newcomers who bid up rents and remade the city’s economy and culture." Those rents were by and large captured by SF "natives" who bought or inherited their properties decades ago. I've never understood why I, a transplant who needed a place to live, was blamed for high rents and not my landlords, real estate millionaires who vote against new development. Look at this fucking map and tell me who has benefitted the most from the sky high cost of living: https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/networth/article/Interactive-map-shows-how-much-property-tax-you-15685009.php https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/networth/article/Intera...

eli_gottlieb 6y ago
>Those rents were by and large captured by SF "natives" who bought or inherited their properties decades ago. I've never understood why I, a transplant who needed a place to live, was blamed for high rents and not my landlords, real estate millionaires who vote against new development. Because the people blaming you are the children of those homeowners and stand to inherit their property.
Kalium 6y ago
> I've never understood why I, a transplant who needed a place to live, was blamed for high rents and not my landlords, real estate millionaires who vote against new development. It's always psychologically easier to blame outsiders for your problems than to look in the mirror. Especially when experts are telling you that most of the causative factors are policies you hold quite close to your heart.
- milkytron 6y ago
  Are you saying OP should blame their self?
  - Kalium 6y ago
    I'm saying that people who blame recent migrants for decades of urban planning policy are possessed of the rare and wonderful opportunity to reassess how they apportion blame.
6gvONxR4sf7o 6y ago
Some natives want it to be 1) affordable to live where they grew up 2) with the density (/"character") they grew up with. If more people and money come in, then one of those things must change, so they blame it on more people and money coming in. I think they'd rather live in a SF where supply and demand were both where they were when they were kids.
prawn 6y ago
From your link: "The tax on one house, which sold in 2015, is $21,400 a year. Four doors down, the tax is about $1,400 a year." What is the equivalent of that housing tax in other countries? In Australia, I pay council rates (local roads, garbage pickup, etc) which are about $2k/year, and there would be a further tax if the property was not my primary residence. But $20k is something else again!

by tqi 6y ago

eli_gottlieb 6y ago

>Those rents were by and large captured by SF "natives" who bought or inherited their properties decades ago. I've never understood why I, a transplant who needed a place to live, was blamed for high rents and not my landlords, real estate millionaires who vote against new development. Because the people blaming you are the children of those homeowners and stand to inherit their property.

Kalium 6y ago

> I've never understood why I, a transplant who needed a place to live, was blamed for high rents and not my landlords, real estate millionaires who vote against new development. It's always psychologically easier to blame outsiders for your problems than to look in the mirror. Especially when experts are telling you that most of the causative factors are policies you hold quite close to your heart.

milkytron 6y ago
Are you saying OP should blame their self?
- Kalium 6y ago
  I'm saying that people who blame recent migrants for decades of urban planning policy are possessed of the rare and wonderful opportunity to reassess how they apportion blame.

6gvONxR4sf7o 6y ago

Some natives want it to be 1) affordable to live where they grew up 2) with the density (/"character") they grew up with. If more people and money come in, then one of those things must change, so they blame it on more people and money coming in. I think they'd rather live in a SF where supply and demand were both where they were when they were kids.

prawn 6y ago

From your link: "The tax on one house, which sold in 2015, is $21,400 a year. Four doors down, the tax is about $1,400 a year." What is the equivalent of that housing tax in other countries? In Australia, I pay council rates (local roads, garbage pickup, etc) which are about $2k/year, and there would be a further tax if the property was not my primary residence. But $20k is something else again!