Bay Area housing market skyrockets
You live in a shack shared with four other people. Yet, your rent is astronomical.
In 2015, the median sale price for houses in the Bay Area was $1.1 million. According to the California Realtors Association Housing Affordability Index, only 20 percent of residents living in the Bay Area can afford to pay that much for a home.
Belmont Mayor Charles Stone said, “[Today,] you cannot buy a family home without putting $200,000 to $400,000 down as a down payment and signing up for an insanely high mortgage. Even renting has become a challenge with apartment rents in the 3,000 to 4,000 price range. In short, Belmont is quickly becoming a place where only the very wealthy can afford to buy or rent a home.”
Many teachers have felt the strain of the Bay Area’s housing affordability crisis. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s annual report, San Mateo ranks as one of the five most expensive rental counties. Consequently, Carlmont has seen multiple teachers leave or consider leaving to more affordable places. In 2016, Carlmont English teacher Robert Colvig moved to South Korea.
Jason Liu, a junior, said, “At the end of last year, Mr. Colvig explained to us that he was going to move to South Korea. He had received a job that paid him enough so that he would be able to move back to the Bay Area in a few years and buy a house for his new family.”
Karen Goetz, a math teacher at Ralston Middle School, has a similar story. Goetz resigned from her position and moved away from the Bay Area, according to an email sent from Ralston Principal Michael Dougherty when Goetz left the school mid-year.
Many schools around the Bay Area have had difficulties finding and keeping teachers as they move, due to high housing prices and the cost of living. With teachers staying for only one or two years, or in the case of Goetz, leaving mid-year, the students’ education is negatively affected.
Kiana George, a seventh grader at Ralston, said, “Our class is behind. Every time a new teacher comes in, there is an introduction period, we don’t actually get to learn any math, and many of our courses are repetitive. Our principal is trying to push back the Carlmont math placement test for the eighth graders because it is unfair for them to take a test when we haven’t covered the material.”
In addition to teachers, many students and young adults are concerned about where they will live. Under the current circumstances, it is difficult for young college graduates to find a place in the Bay Area.
“I grew up in the Bay Area and I’ve lived here almost my whole life. But with housing prices the way they are, I don’t know where I will live after I graduate from college. It’s a little scary that I probably won’t be able to stay in this area. If I do stay around here, I know that I might have to work multiple jobs to afford it, and I will likely start off by sharing an apartment with others,” said junior Edison Bai.
As housing prices continue to rise, many people have found innovative, borderline legal, and sometimes illegal ways to continue to live in the area. This includes living on boats, in the back of trucks, or in tents.
According to Business Insider, Pete D'Andrea, a Google employee, and his wife Kara, spent nearly two years living in a van parked in the company's parking lot, saving nearly 80 percent of their take-home pay. Another example is 31-year-old Luke Iseman, who started a business converting shipping containers to allow people seeking affordable housing to live in them (illegally) for $1,000 a month.
The San Francisco Bay Area has become one of the most expensive rental markets in the county according to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (FRBSF). However, affordability is only a symptom of the Bay Area’s housing problem; the underlying issue is the inadequate supply of housing. The disparity between the housing production and the high level of demand has only been exacerbated by the booming technology industry and the growing population in the Bay Area.
In an interview with FRBSF, Jane Kim, a representative of District 6 on San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors, said that “in 2015, the Bay Area added 64,000 new jobs, most of them in Silicon Valley. But less than 5,000 new homes were constructed.”
From mayors to governors to affordable housing advocaters, many people are trying to find ways to solve the housing problems. California lawmakers have passed legislation for direct federal funding of teacher housing projects, according to the San Francisco Business Times.
“We have approximately 170 units either under construction or in the development pipeline and several potential projects in early stages. We also recently adopted an inclusionary zoning ordinance that requires for-sale development to include a certain number of affordable units,” said Stone.
Whatever the solution may be, steps are being taken to end the housing crisis. For teachers, low-income families who don’t know if they can afford to remain in the Bay Area and college graduates who don’t know where they will be able to live, there is hope that housing might become more affordable.
Stone said, “We understand that the younger generation growing up in the Peninsula is largely facing the reality of not being able to live in the area they grew up in. We're trying to make policy decisions that allow at least some of you to have a fighting chance to do so if you wish.”
In 2015, the median sale price for houses in the Bay Area was $1.1 million. According to the California Realtors Association Housing Affordability Index, only 20 percent of residents living in the Bay Area can afford to pay that much for a home.
Belmont Mayor Charles Stone said, “[Today,] you cannot buy a family home without putting $200,000 to $400,000 down as a down payment and signing up for an insanely high mortgage. Even renting has become a challenge with apartment rents in the 3,000 to 4,000 price range. In short, Belmont is quickly becoming a place where only the very wealthy can afford to buy or rent a home.”
Many teachers have felt the strain of the Bay Area’s housing affordability crisis. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s annual report, San Mateo ranks as one of the five most expensive rental counties. Consequently, Carlmont has seen multiple teachers leave or consider leaving to more affordable places. In 2016, Carlmont English teacher Robert Colvig moved to South Korea.
Jason Liu, a junior, said, “At the end of last year, Mr. Colvig explained to us that he was going to move to South Korea. He had received a job that paid him enough so that he would be able to move back to the Bay Area in a few years and buy a house for his new family.”
Karen Goetz, a math teacher at Ralston Middle School, has a similar story. Goetz resigned from her position and moved away from the Bay Area, according to an email sent from Ralston Principal Michael Dougherty when Goetz left the school mid-year.
Many schools around the Bay Area have had difficulties finding and keeping teachers as they move, due to high housing prices and the cost of living. With teachers staying for only one or two years, or in the case of Goetz, leaving mid-year, the students’ education is negatively affected.
Kiana George, a seventh grader at Ralston, said, “Our class is behind. Every time a new teacher comes in, there is an introduction period, we don’t actually get to learn any math, and many of our courses are repetitive. Our principal is trying to push back the Carlmont math placement test for the eighth graders because it is unfair for them to take a test when we haven’t covered the material.”
In addition to teachers, many students and young adults are concerned about where they will live. Under the current circumstances, it is difficult for young college graduates to find a place in the Bay Area.
“I grew up in the Bay Area and I’ve lived here almost my whole life. But with housing prices the way they are, I don’t know where I will live after I graduate from college. It’s a little scary that I probably won’t be able to stay in this area. If I do stay around here, I know that I might have to work multiple jobs to afford it, and I will likely start off by sharing an apartment with others,” said junior Edison Bai.
As housing prices continue to rise, many people have found innovative, borderline legal, and sometimes illegal ways to continue to live in the area. This includes living on boats, in the back of trucks, or in tents.
According to Business Insider, Pete D'Andrea, a Google employee, and his wife Kara, spent nearly two years living in a van parked in the company's parking lot, saving nearly 80 percent of their take-home pay. Another example is 31-year-old Luke Iseman, who started a business converting shipping containers to allow people seeking affordable housing to live in them (illegally) for $1,000 a month.
The San Francisco Bay Area has become one of the most expensive rental markets in the county according to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (FRBSF). However, affordability is only a symptom of the Bay Area’s housing problem; the underlying issue is the inadequate supply of housing. The disparity between the housing production and the high level of demand has only been exacerbated by the booming technology industry and the growing population in the Bay Area.
In an interview with FRBSF, Jane Kim, a representative of District 6 on San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors, said that “in 2015, the Bay Area added 64,000 new jobs, most of them in Silicon Valley. But less than 5,000 new homes were constructed.”
From mayors to governors to affordable housing advocaters, many people are trying to find ways to solve the housing problems. California lawmakers have passed legislation for direct federal funding of teacher housing projects, according to the San Francisco Business Times.
“We have approximately 170 units either under construction or in the development pipeline and several potential projects in early stages. We also recently adopted an inclusionary zoning ordinance that requires for-sale development to include a certain number of affordable units,” said Stone.
Whatever the solution may be, steps are being taken to end the housing crisis. For teachers, low-income families who don’t know if they can afford to remain in the Bay Area and college graduates who don’t know where they will be able to live, there is hope that housing might become more affordable.
Stone said, “We understand that the younger generation growing up in the Peninsula is largely facing the reality of not being able to live in the area they grew up in. We're trying to make policy decisions that allow at least some of you to have a fighting chance to do so if you wish.”