Record-low interest rates and the coronavirus pandemic helped make 2020 a banner year for homebuying.
Existing home sales reached 14-year highs in September, and monthly sales of new homes were 20% higher than 2019, according to the most recent monthly data from the Census Bureau.
“You hear all these stories about a mass exodus from San Francisco, and I keep looking around to see people with their trucks loaded with belongings like ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’ or something,” said Cynthia Cummins, a real estate agent with Kindred SF Homes in San Francisco. “But mainly, they’re just moving across town or they’re trying to get someplace where they’re closer to a park.”
An analysis of U.S. Postal Service change-of-address requests by MyMove found that people did leave big cities, including San Francisco, for less densely populated areas in higher numbers than in 2019.
“By contrast, with San Francisco, some of the outlying parts of the Bay Area have been pretty hot. In particular, the East Bay, you know, Berkeley, Oakland, and also Marin County to the north,” Cummins said.
Among her clientele, Cummins said, she’s also noticed an increase in demand for second homes, particularly homes within driving distance of San Francisco. “A lot of people are trying to go up to Tahoe,” she said.
“We’ve just had more demand come out of the woodwork than we’ve ever seen before,” said David Westall, a real estate agent with Corcoran Global Living in Tahoe City, California. “For me personally, going into May, my business was down 80% year over year,” he said. “And then all of a sudden, restrictions started getting lifted a little bit…. By June, we’re starting to see above-average demand for that time of the year, and then by July, it just got insanely busy.”
Westall said most sellers in his market try to stay in the area, but he’s also seen a migration of people from the Lake Tahoe and Truckee region to Montana, Idaho and other, “more remote areas that are kind of up-and-coming.”
“People are able to bring their jobs with them from other areas. So they’re cashing out the equity in their higher-end markets and tapping into ours,” said Mindy Palmer, a real estate agent with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Montana Properties in Missoula. “It’s creating a staggering imbalance,” she said.
Both the number of properties sold and median sales prices for residential properties in Ravalli County, Montana, set records last year, according to an analysis by a local real estate appraiser.
“It’s exciting to be a part of that,” Palmer said. “On the other side of the coin, it’s very difficult for the local Missoulian.”
“It’s heartbreaking to see somebody that’s worked hard all their life to try to save up to buy their first home, and then they come to you and say, ‘All I can afford is $210,000,’ and the very first words out of our mouths next are, ‘How far are you willing to look outside of Missoula to achieve that?’ ” Palmer said. “But I’m not gonna back down. If I have to go over to another county to help somebody find something, I will.”
Tell us your housing story using the form below, and you may be featured on a future edition of “Adventures in Housing.”
What are the details of President Joe Biden’s coronavirus relief plan?
The $1.9 trillion plan would aim to speed up the vaccine rollout and provide financial help to individuals, states and local governments and businesses. Called the “American Rescue Plan,” the legislative proposal would meet Biden’s goal of administering 100 million vaccines by the 100th day of his administration, while advancing his objective of reopening most schools by the spring. It would also include $1,400 checks for most Americans. Get the rest of the specifics here.
What kind of help can small businesses get right now?
A new round of Paycheck Protection Program loans recently became available for pandemic-ravaged businesses. These loans don’t have to be paid back if rules are met. Right now, loans are open for first-time applicants. And the application has to go through community banking organizations — no big banks, for now, at least. This rollout is designed to help business owners who couldn’t get a PPP loan before.
What does the hiring situation in the U.S. look like as we enter the new year?
New data on job openings and postings provide a glimpse of what to expect in the job market in the coming weeks and months. This time of year typically sees a spike in hiring and job-search activity, says Jill Chapman with Insperity, a recruiting services firm. But that kind of optimistic planning for the future isn’t really the vibe these days. Job postings have been lagging on the job search site Indeed. Listings were down about 11% in December compared to a year earlier.
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The Bay Area had 8% year-over-year rent growth for 10-foot by 10-foot climate-controlled storage units in December, the strongest performance in the nation, according to a January National Self-Storage Report from Yardi Matrix.
Following some disruptions to the sector alongside much of society in early 2020, about 94% of the U.S. markets tracked by the report performed well for 10-foot by 10-foot non-climate-controlled units, indicating strong demand in the down market as many of the nation’s most mobile workers changed locales.
California’s Inland Empire had the second-highest growth rate for 10X10 climate-controlled units at 7% between December 2019 and December 2020. The region tied with Philadelphia and Boston for the largest increase in non-climate-controlled units at 6%.
The Yardi Matrix report’s authors concluded that the Inland Empire’s strong self-storage rental performance suggests that the region is gaining residents from the high-priced metros of S.F. and Los Angeles.
There is further evidence of that in multifamily data. While S.F.’s year-over-year multifamily rent growth fell to -9.4% between December 2019 and December 2020, the Inland Empire and Sacramento topped the nation at 7.3% and 6.1%, respectively, according to a National Multifamily Report by Yardi Matrix, underscoring the trend’s uneven impact on CRE based on region.
Albert Turner, who works in marketing and customer relations for Affordable Self-Storage on S.F.’s Treasure Island, told Hoodline that he “hasn’t seen customer demand like this since 2008.” The article also cited a tech worker who recently moved from S.F. to Oakland and then back to S.F. again, all while relying on self-storage units to get through the lingering uncertainty of the pandemic’s outcome.
Despite the self-storage sector’s ability to capitalize on the economic fallout, the continuing public health crisis leaves doubt about future performance. Although nationally, self-storage projects in the development pipeline accounted for 8.3% of inventory, Yardi Matrix data showed that developers abandoned 23 projects in December.
The S.F. Bay area came in at No. 14 for regions with the most self-storage under development, behind New York and Sacramento, which came in at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively.
Responding to demand, self-storage developer InSite Property Group recently bought a 10.4-acre site at 1014 Chesley Ave. in Richmond that’s been vacant for over 20 years from Modico Capital, according to a Jan. 15 press release. The industrial site, previously owned by World Oil Corp., is planned for a 112K SF self-storage facility.
“Repurposing this property represented a challenge on multiple fronts,” Modico Capitol President Trey Clark said in the press release. “The property is zoned for light industrial use, but the difficult access for large trucks make most industrial uses unrealistic. The residential uses adjacent to the site further limit appropriate uses. Finally, the light industrial zoning code had been reworked recently to eliminate many of the more dormant industrial uses that would have been a good fit. We are pleased the city of Richmond has decided to move ahead with the much-needed self-storage development, and believe the community will benefit from the improvements to a lot that has been vacant for years.”
“Residence as a resort” is the name of the game at the highest end of Bay Area real estate. Exhibit A: “Villa La Sosta” in Ross, which features a pool, spa, jogging path, tennis and bocce courts, and a casino room on almost two acres of meticulously groomed grounds
Bay Area real estate legends discuss how the high-end housing market has handled the coronavirus crisis so far, and where it’s headed next.
The announcements came at a blistering pace: On March 5, San Francisco reported its first two coronavirus cases. Less than a week later, the NBA season was canceled, the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic, and travel to Europe was banned. Five days later, six Bay Area counties took the unprecedented step of collectively issuing a shelter-in-place order. For a housing market that many believed had already seen its peak, this appeared to be a death knell.
Not so fast.
Over the ensuing three months, a new dynamic emerged within the premium real estate market from Pacific Heights to Piedmont. In perhaps the purest expression of supply and demand, inventory disappeared and prices kept climbing. Today, the premium Bay Area housing market is as tight as ever, driven by desirability factors that barely registered on buyers’ radar just four months ago. To get to the bottom of this crazy market, we convened a virtual event with seven of the region’s most respected real estate professionals. The top questions on our mind: What the heck happened, and what’s coming next?
It’s safe to say that the East Bay hills are having a moment. With large, parklike backyards, great weather, stunning homes and easy access to the City, luxury buyers are flocking not only to Piedmont, but also to tony neighborhoods like Rockridge, Claremont and Crocker Highlands in Oakland.
A lot of people anticipated some kind of market apocalypse back at the end of March, but so far, that doesn’t seem to be coming to pass. Without getting into particulars, what can you tell us about the strength of the market?
Joel Goodrich: Indeed, the market is doing very well. San Francisco is one of the world’s core luxury markets, and we’re more immune to downtrends — particularly areas such as Pacific Heights and Russian Hill. In just the last couple days we’ve written offers on behalf of buyers for $11.5 and $7 million. We’re seeing quite a bit of activity.
Helena Zaludova: The market has some strength in it. I wouldn’t say it’s in all parts of San Francisco, but definitely on the north end. In Pacific Heights, we have seen some incredibly strong sales in the $10 million to $25 million range since March. The absorption rate is surprisingly good. The prime properties in prime locations are holding their value quite well.
Gregg Lynn: We have been through a convulsive period — four to five weeks of absolutely no activity — but then we rebounded around May 15 and it’s been a rocket ship ever since.
This recently completed Nantucket-inspired Belvedere residence showcases the type of opportunities that await weary city dwellers looking for a (dramatic) change of scenery. As luxury buyers reassess their priorities, Marin County beckons with a range of attractive options.
What’s the hottest neighborhood in your market and the number one feature buyers are looking for in that neighborhood?
Gregg Lynn: Pacific Heights, outdoor space.
Tracy McLaughlin: Flats of Ross, pool.
Helena Zaludova: Cole Valley, outdoor space.
Rachel Swann: Noe Valley, outdoor space.
Joel Goodrich: Pacific Heights, quality of life.
Michael Dreyfus: Woodside, acreage — as much as you can get.
DJ Grubb: Rockridge (Oakland), walking to coffee.
The new calculus of pandemic living has sparked frenzied interest in luxury properties that offer showstopping indoor/outdoor living amenities, like Valhalla in Sausalito.
For those of you focused outside of San Francisco, is the COVID-19 crisis changing the profile or volume of buyers entering your markets?
Tracy McLaughlin: Yes, absolutely. I can see a very dramatic shift that happened almost overnight. The profile of the buyer is the same, over and over: two or three children, had briefly considered leaving San Francisco maybe three to five years out on the horizon, and then they made the decision — almost immediately and without any preparation — to come over here [to Marin County]. They’re buying up the inventory that provides resort like indoor/outdoor living with pools and such, almost in a panic. It’s been very interesting to watch. It’s a tight market, and it’s very competitive right now.
DJ Grubb: I’ve been poaching a lot of San Francisco brokers who are now jumping the bridge because they’re finding that their consumer wants to come over to the Oakland/Piedmont/Berkeley communities. We are selling luxury real estate over here for under $1,000 a foot. My real estate is not expensive compared to other luxury markets in the Bay Area, especially in Piedmont, on the high end. It’s the family formation. I think they’ve been pent up in San Francisco, in their condominium and/or flat. And they’re saying, “Let’s get out.”
Michael Dreyfus: Some things turned on their heads immediately. Our traditional walking markets like Palo Alto and Atherton have always been stronger than those west of 280, like Portola Valley and Woodside.That just got completely reversed. People came looking for acreage like I’ve never seen before. Woodside got wiped out. I mean, there were homes that had been sitting on the market for over two years — over $10 million — and it literally sold out. We’re seeing people from all over the country that have ties to the Valley through business and are making a decision to live here full time, at least for now. And there’s a lot of talk about schools. They’re thinking about schools that can handle social distancing. And maybe, in their minds, the suburban schools give a better opportunity for that.
The COVID crisis has really upended life as we know it and fundamentally altered people’s feelings about what’s important. I’m curious how that’s translating to home buying. What are the new “dynamics of desirability” for properties?
Joel Goodrich: What we’re finding is that single-family homes are much more in demand than the high-rise condominiums and co-ops. We have some great buildings in San Francisco that have always been in huge demand — who doesn’t want to be in a building with great services, great amenities, great use? But right now, people want their own space. We’ve seen a trend toward the urbanization of real estate over the last few years where people want to be close to everything. Now, we’re seeing a little bit of a shift out, but I don’t think it’s going to be permanent.
Helena Zaludova: The buyers I’m working with are absolutely reconsidering the urban aspects of where they live. I found a set of buyers who were considering a home on Laguna and Green and it just felt too urban. They made a complete shift into District 4, which is Forest Hill and St. Francis Wood. I think this is an almost seismic shift in how people want to live within the City. These neighborhoods that have been a little bit quieter, a little bit away from the hustle and bustle, are seeing the highest level of activity. Within the home, luxury buyers are now looking to solve for everything. A room to work from home. A gym area to work out.
Gregg Lynn: We were on an important showing yesterday with an important client, and one of the kids says, “Daddy, where will I do my Zoom call?” Understanding the need for light in Zoom calls, this is something that I could not have fathomed just 90 days ago. The requirements are changing. We’re also seeing a surge right now in families that are not ready for single-family homes, and they’re looking at low-rise condominium buildings in blue-chip neighborhoods.
Tracy McLaughlin: What I’m finding is that people want to unpack their suitcases, put their clothes away, and go right back on their devices. We’re living in an era, right now, [with] very little tolerance for fixers. It doesn’t matter if it’s an A1 location. I see people paying high prices in B-, or even C- grade locations, to move in and feel good right away. Anything with indoor/outdoor living, a pool, and finishes that feel and look really chic to people. Nobody wants to spend three years of their lives going through approvals, unpredictable construction costs, delays and neighbor objections.
DJ Grubb: It’s almost as though our vocabulary has changed. We’re speaking of home cooking, family, pet friendly, reconnecting, celebrating, walking. The compound is very important. Experience the garden, fresh air, comfort, safety, peace. We’ve had a fundamental shift in what the consumer wants because they’re going to live in the entire space.
Michael Dreyfus: The “home as a resort” is what we’re seeing. I’ve never had so many requests for pools in my life! I’m actually getting bids to put in pools before we put the house on the market, because I know it’s coming — it’s something people want. Movie theaters were almost dead because TV screens are so good that it seems silly to have this whole room devoted to a theater. They’re back now. All of a sudden, everybody wants one. Bigger
gyms are a big deal. And, of course, the home office.
We almost buried the McMansion, and now it’s back. Everybody was going to the tiny home, and now it’s just gone right back the other way, “Give me space. Give me a place I can have my friends over and we can be outside.”
The market is as hot as ever for elegantly appointed single-family homes in San Francisco’s top neighborhoods, like this five-bedroom stunner in Ashbury Heights.
How have agents had to change and adapt to this new environment, and how are buyers and sellers alike responding?
Rachel Swann: The ability to work from anywhere has been a big push for most of the clients I work with. They’re like, “If we can work anywhere, we’re ready to just get out of here and try somewhere different for a while, and we can always come back to San Francisco.” We’re also seeing more serious buyers these days with proof of funds and pre-approval; far fewer looky-loos.
While we’ve been dealing with the pandemic crisis, another has continued unabated, particularly in San Francisco: the homelessness crisis. What can you tell us about the issue as it impacts both your San Francisco sellers and your buyers?
Helena Zaludova: Prior to [shelter in place], I did a fair amount of travel and business in other parts of the country, especially in the South. And I’ve noticed that San Francisco does have a bad rap on homelessness. This is not something to ignore. Oracle World and other conferences are gone because downtown was not feeling so great. It’s certainly a topic and something that the City will need to deal with.
Tracy McLaughlin: I personally believe that the homeless issue in San Francisco is as much a blight on the City as COVID-19. Clients are coming out here [to Marin] saying, “I’ve been pushed this far by homelessness for years; it seems like almost an unsolvable problem in San Francisco. And this has tipped me over to finally make a decision to leave a placeI never thought that I would leave.”
Michael Dreyfus: I don’t feel like it’s a driver for us. I can tell you, anecdotally, it’s sometimes affecting clients that I send to Gregg in their decision to buy there or not.
Gregg Lynn: I want to echo what Michael has said. We focus on the second-home market South of Market, and Russian Hill, Pacific Heights, condominium and co-op. Between 2018 and 2019, about a 12-month period, that’s when the media noticed the homelessness issue in San Francisco. That’s when the big stories came out in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. And that’s when there was a big acknowledgment that “Hey, there’s a big problem here.” We lost about 80 percent of our buyers from the Peninsula, Marin and the East Bay that were looking for second homes here. And they haven’t come back yet. So, yes — COVID has been a horrible situation to deal with. But a lot of our second-home buyers, which are the strength of our apartment, co-op and condominium market, disappeared along time ago.
Within the home, luxury buyers are now looking to solve for everything,” says Helena Zaludova, from working to working out.
One piece of coronavirus guidance that’s really crystallizing is the safety of outdoor interactions versus indoor interactions. Are big, parklike outdoor spaces really driving valuations in a substantial way?
DJ Grubb: Well, I think if you go back 30 years, we had the visual garden, right? We no longer have the visual garden; we have the garden “experience” in which we’re building outdoor rooms in the garden space. If you look at the format of, what are the public rooms in the home? Well, there’s the living room, dining room, and it may
just now be the outdoor room as a public space for the property. So, yes, it’s a definite trend, definitely important.
Michael Dreyfus: I’ve been thinking about our weather a lot lately and I think it’s going to start to be a big driver. I think a lot of people are coming DJ’s way [to the East Bay].
Rachel Swann: Just on a more urban level as well, I mean, what we’re seeing in Noe Valley is the City doing slow streets, where they’re blocking through traffic on certain streets. So, on Sanchez, between 23rd and 30th, there’s no through traffic. You’re seeing people who are biking, walking up and down the street, playing ball.
We’re seeing a little bit of a change there.
Can’t fly to Cabo? House hunters at the high end are increasingly looking for a resort in their own backyard.
Widespread work-from-home has certainly changed the game in terms of what people want, but are you seeing a lot of clients who are leaving the Bay Area entirely?
Gregg Lynn: I do. And we have, for some time. The coronavirus has sped up decisions for people that may have been three to four years away but are happening now.
Michael Dreyfus: Different people are going to do different things. If you’re a hedge fund guy and you have a staff of four people, you’re going to Hawaii and you’re working from there. But culture is a big deal. My daughter is probably going to move farther away, but I don’t think she’s going away. I think she’s going to come
into the office once a week. She’s still going to touch that place, but she’s not going to do it as often. And it’s going to give her the ability to move farther out. Driving across a bridge one day a week is a lot different than five.
Our Panelists
Joel GoodrichBanker Global Luxury
One of the San Francisco Bay Area’s most prominent luxury real estate agents for nearly three decades, Goodrich has sold some of the Bay Area’s most iconic properties, including the historic 35,000-square-foot Tobin Clark Estate in Hillsborough. Goodrich’s properties have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, CNBC and Bravo TV.
Rachel SwannCompass
A top 1 percent producing agent, Swann brings more than a decade of real estate experience to her new role at Compass. She’s the former managing partner of The Agency’s first San Francisco office; before that, Swann founded The Swann Group, a partner group of agents at Vanguard Properties.
DJ GrubbThe Grubb Co. (East Bay)
Grubb is a Bay Area native and president of The Grubb Company, which was founded in 1967 by his uncle, John M.Grubb, and his father, Donald J. Grubb. During his 32 years of real estate sales and management, he has developed a keen appreciation for his clientele and an intimate relationship with the high-end East Bay residential marketplace.
Helena ZaludovaCompass
In 2019 alone, Zaludova closed over $100 million in sales and became one of the highest-ranking San Francisco real estate agents. Most of the properties she listed sold for over asking, and 71 percent of her buyers’ offers were accepted the first time her team made a bid on their behalf.
Gregg LynnSotheby’s International Realty
Ranked in 2019 as one of the top two agents in the City by the San Francisco Association of Realtors, Lynn has represented clients in transactions totaling more than $1.5 billion. Partnering with the creativeteams responsible for marketing the world’s most prized artworks at the Sotheby’s Auction House, Lynn works with his clients to curate each home, presenting it to the global market and enabling it to sell at the highest possible price.
Tracy McLaughlinThe Agency (Marin)
McLaughlin has a remarkable real estate success story. In 2019, after nearly 15 years of standing out as the
no. 1 producer in residential sales in Marin County, she was recruited by award-winning entrepreneur and
real estate trailblazer Mauricio Umansky to lead the Marin County offices for his state-of-the-art luxury real estate brokerage, The Agency.
Michael DreyfusGolden Gate Sotheby’s (Peninsula)
Dreyfus has had more than 25 years of success in residential real estate. He is one of the leading sales agents in the Silicon Valley/Peninsula area and has regular appearances on the Wall Street Journal/REAL Trend’s list of America’s Top 250 Agents. His recent sales have included some of the highest sales recorded in Palo Alto, Woodside and Atherton.
San Jose housing rental prices in December were down 13.7% year over year, the nation’s sharpest decline, according to a new report, and San Francisco wasn’t far behind.
Rents were down 13.7% in San Jose, New York followed with an 11.7% drop, and San Francisco had the third-biggest decline, 9.4%.
California boasted the metro areas with the biggest booms in prices: The Inland Empire (east of Los Angeles) and Sacramento.
The report from real estate data firm Yardi Matrix showed the split during the pandemic between pricey coastal markets and nearby lower-cost metros continued.
San Jose has been at the bottom of the growth list seven consecutive months, with rents down 14.1% since March.
Rounding out the bottom five in December were Seattle, with a 6.2% drop, and Washington down 4.9%.
Yardi Matrix surveys renters of market-rate properties with at least 50 units to determine market conditions, measuring rental rate change and rent concessions. It excludes fully subsidized properties.
The findings from Yardi Matrix differ from rental listings websites Zumper and Apartment List, which have shown San Francisco rent prices plummeting more than any other major metro area throughout the pandemic, including in December.
The Yardi Matrix report attributes the exodus from big cities to job losses around tourist-centric industries.
“As gateway markets are some of the most expensive to live in, and with job losses disproportionately impacting service workers, it became impossible for many to pay rent, so the only choice was to move,” the report said.
Another factor was the large number of employees shifting indefinitely to remote work.
“With most amenities in these urban areas closed, the desirability of living in an urban setting and paying high rents has been lost,” the report said.
While a significant decline continues in expensive gateway markets, nearby smaller market cities have seen strong growth in rental prices during the pandemic. California’s Inland Empire (7.3% year-over-year growth) and Sacramento (6.1%) top the list for the past four months. Phoenix, Tampa and Las Vegas rounded out the top five in December.
Zumper’s latest national rent report put San Francisco first on the list for year-over-year declines for one-bedrooms in the country’s most expensive and largest rental markets, falling 24%. Oakland was second (22%), followed by Seattle (20.6%), New York (19.7%), Boston (17%) and San Jose (14.7%).
Despite the sharp declines, Zumper’s report found San Francisco remains the nation’s most expensive rental market. Despite huge drops in the country’s priciest markets in 2020, the list of the top 10 most expensive changed very little, Zumper said — indicating “just how much more expensive these rental markets were than the rest of the country.”
Zumper’s January 2021 Bay Area report showed additional nuance when comparing other Bay Area cities. Santa Clara’s rental prices also dropped 24% year over year, and Menlo Park and Mountain View were close behind at 23.4% and 23.8%, respectively.
Zumper aggregates data from more than 1 million active listings, which includes newer builds and excludes listings that are occupied or no longer active.
Kellie Hwang is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kellie.hwang@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @KellieHwang
Under Lee, the city instituted a payroll tax holiday on companies that relocated to the mid-Market neighborhood, drawing Twitter, Uber, Zendesk and a handful of others. It reshaped an entire area of the city, but did not solve the rampant homelessness and street crime in the area.
Lee also leaned toward the tech industry’s point of view on minor controversies such as whether tech company bus shuttles should be allowed to park at the city’s Muni stops in the mornings. Lee died in office in December 2017 and was replaced by London Breed, a similarly tech-amenable mayor who grew up in the city’s public housing.
The power of the mayor in San Francisco is limited by the Board of Supervisors, an 11-member city council, each of whom is elected from a discrete geographic area, giving neighborhood voters uncommon power over how the city is run.
The supervisors oversee most governance in the city, and they serve a range of very powerful constituencies, including public workers’ unions, neighborhood groups, the huge local health-care industry, homeowners, renters and local “progressives” — who, despite their name, vote mostly against new development and growth and in favor of preserving what they perceive as the old San Francisco. The city also allows voters to put initiatives on the ballot, leading to more bizarre and often contradictory laws, which are often challenged in court, not enforced and so on.
Working within this diversity of opinions is challenging. It’s easier to have cities line up with incentives every time you threaten to leave. But it’s also why San Francisco is a city worth living in for many of the people who live here, including the young creative workers who flock here in search not only of a paycheck but also adventure and novelty.
The area’s gnarly problems predate the tech industry. Tech critics point to San Francisco’s inability to “solve” its homeless problem over the last decade, but the problem stretches back well before the dot-com boom. When I first moved here in 1992, Mayor Art Agnos was dealing with the fallout of allowing (that is, not actively opposing) hundreds of homeless people to live in the park in front of City Hall. The lastseven mayors have all tried various approaches — law and order, relying on services, “cleaning up” various parts of the city, shelters, more funding for housing and so on. It’s the kind of problem that resists simple algorithmic solutions.
The roots of the problem include broadly popular zoning and housing laws that make it difficult and expensive to build new houses, a reduction in mental health services in the 1980s that has never been recovered, historically permissive attitudes toward hard drug use and many other factors. (Kim-Mai Cutler’s 2014 long take on housing policy and Nathan Heller’s piece on homelessness during the pandemic are excellent places to start if you’re truly interested in learning what’s going on, instead of just repeating talking points from national politicians and tourists who can’t understand why all the hotels are next to the roughest neighborhood in town.)
The same goes for most of the other problems the tech departees are citing. Power outages? Let’s go back to the early 2000s when a botched deregulation plan and market manipulation contributed to rolling blackouts, leading voters to recall Democratic Gov. Grey Davis and replace him with Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger. Wildfires? How about the 1991 firestorm in the Oakland hills, which killed 25 people and burned thousands of homes? Corruption? Been going on for more than a century (like with many big cities).
