"For many San Franciscans who have been displaced or are on the verge of losing their homes, there's pain and a sense of powerlessness."
When I recently visited the Bay Area for the first time, I spoke with a worker who was helping with the catering of one of the events I attended. I sat with him while he was on break, and getting a bite to eat. When I asked him about himself, the conversation quickly arrived at this topic of gentrification. This sense of powerlessness is exactly how he felt, but there was also resentment toward new inhabitants making enough to afford the high cost of living.
Tech companies and workers are not the only (nor the main) cause of this issue, yet they're likely receiving a higher fraction of the blame. Whether this resentment is justified or not, it doesn't seem to be getting better with time. The cold but logical advice to "just move somewhere more affordable." isn't an acceptable solution to many of those who were or will be displaced.
I don't want to move to the Bay Area and exacerbate the problem, but there are clearly some great benefits of basing a startup there. So it's a difficult choice. Hopefully VR or another technology will make remote work a better solution than relocation in the future. Also, a better way to quickly and affordably retrain and enter a new profession must be made available to displaced workers so automation can replace low-wage service industry jobs faster.
When I recently visited the Bay Area for the first time, I spoke with a worker who was helping with the catering of one of the events I attended. I sat with him while he was on break, and getting a bite to eat. When I asked him about himself, the conversation quickly arrived at this topic of gentrification. This sense of powerlessness is exactly how he felt, but there was also resentment toward new inhabitants making enough to afford the high cost of living.
Tech companies and workers are not the only (nor the main) cause of this issue, yet they're likely receiving a higher fraction of the blame. Whether this resentment is justified or not, it doesn't seem to be getting better with time. The cold but logical advice to "just move somewhere more affordable." isn't an acceptable solution to many of those who were or will be displaced.
I don't want to move to the Bay Area and exacerbate the problem, but there are clearly some great benefits of basing a startup there. So it's a difficult choice. Hopefully VR or another technology will make remote work a better solution than relocation in the future. Also, a better way to quickly and affordably retrain and enter a new profession must be made available to displaced workers so automation can replace low-wage service industry jobs faster.