That’s what happened in my family. We live in Silicon Valley (though not the most expensive part of it). My wife is a teacher and I’m a computer programmer.
Way it seems to work around here is the low income workers come from the “ghetto” pockets, or are kids of richer people just working part time. Also the pre-existing cultural trend of of houses being multi generation is just ramping up even more as real estate becomes unaffordable for a single family or generation, kids don’t leave they move their SO in and build extensions and new rooms.
I still can’t wrap my head around why there are any ghetto pockets in expensive cities. Why don’t rich people buy distressed properties and gentrify the neighborhoods? I would think the free market would be all over an opportunity like that.
What rich person would want to live there? The very name of the area becomes “tainted”, gentrification takes generations to happen.
If you think gentrification takes generations, please see the 3rd St streetcar in SF.
It goes from the newly-chic SoMa (as noted, Pier 60 used to be a bad area) straight into the worst ghetto in SF - where people get killed for using the wrong parking space (yes, it happened).
That is Bayview/Hunters Point.
The last place is SF county where a house could be bought for $500K.
I predict 20 years max for wall-to-wall condo towers.
I was talking about the entire life span from decent area, declining, really bad, not many people left except older folks who die off, lots of cheap property available, development, decent area.
Silicon Valley can’t keep teachers because of soaring prices:
I’ve lived in Silicon Valley for 30 years and have never seen this. I’d like to see a cite for how many restaurants operate this way.
The ones who can’t buy a house elsewhere for less than a million dollars.
It’s not so simple. There is a long period where the neighborhood is both gentrified and slum. The pockets get smaller, but it’s not like someone flips the gentrifier switch and it’s over. For one, you have people who already live in the neighborhood who don’t want to leave, maybe their parents or grandparents bought the house when it was cheap, it’s paid off and they can live there rent free; maybe they live in some kind of subsidized housing.
The people living in the projects often don’t have anywhere to go. They might be poor, but they still have rights and they still can be part of a powerful voting block in the city. A lot of people do sell their houses and make a big chunk of change, but there are other people who don’t own and have nowhere to go.
In my neighborhood in DC, we bought ten years ago and crime is actually worse than before. I think this is because drug dealers are fighting over smaller turf.
I think that rich people don’t want to move into the Bayview/Hunter’s Point area of San Francisco, which were mentioned above, because it still has a reputation as being very high crime. If they can’t afford to live elsewhere in S.F. they’d rather live in a nearby suburb. That’s why these areas haven’t gentrified yet.
As madmonk28 said, there has to be period where the area is partially gentrified, including a reduction in the crime rate, before rich people will take a chance on it.
Depends on what you consider boring. Rich people who are intelligent are very good neighbors and are the ones who come up with the creative ideas that invent new businesses and products. The lower income people do largely what is considered unskilled work and work just to survive. Their contribution isn’t the seed for fresh ideas and innovation.
What people do in places like NYC is they live outside of Manhattan or places where it is lower cost and have roommates. There is also rent control in Manhattan so people who could not usually live there can. There is also HUD type housing.
I assume you’re talking about Petworth/Columbia Heights. Is the crime also confined to a smaller area, or do you need to watch your back when you come out of one of those trendy places on Georgia Avenue?
We got priced out of Brooklyn after we became parents. The library systems in NY paid so poorly that even as managers we had the choice of raising kids in a tiny apartment, commuting an hour and a half or more, or leaving. We ended up in a transitional neighborhood inside the beltway about a mile from DC. Within a couple of years Discovery Channel built their headquarters a short distance away, and the area transformed overnight. There’s still drug-related crime on our block, but shootings have always involved people from outside the neighborhood.
For those who are interested in gentrification:
The grim, racist (and likely illegal) methods of one Brooklyn landlord
I live in Petworth, crime has always been manageable with some basic street sense, but this summer crime has come unglued from Columbia Heights to Brightwood, there’s a 20% increase in murders since last year and shootings are pretty frequent. There was a shoot out in a playground during the day in CH and last week a shoot out on a corner not too far from our house in which 3 people were shot and 65 rounds fired. I’m hoping it’s the last gasp of the crews as they fight over reduced turf, but given that Mayor Bowser is a complete moron, we might have to wait for her to get out of office and see what’s left of the city. Nevertheless, houses are starting in the mid 500s for a fixer upper.
If you want to get a sense of crime and how it coexists next to gentrification, check out Crime - PoPville
Rich people who are intelligent don’t really want neighbors half the time; Bill Gates, Larry Ellison etc.