Unlike the prior generation of tech executives who spent their lavish earnings on wealthy neighborhoods and Silicon Valley suburbs, a new generation of dot-com profiteers are driving up housing costs in grittier parts of San Francisco.
Nancy Keates and Geoffrey A. Fowler report on the dramatic effect that "infusions of cash from the rising shares of Apple and Google and the initial public offerings by Zynga, LinkedIn, Yelp and soon Facebook" are having on such San Francisco neighborhoods as the Mission, where median home prices have grown 44% compared with a year ago.
"Real-estate agents say it's a cultural shift. The new generation of Internet executives-younger than the last generation of dot-commers-eschews the trappings and responsibilities of expensive properties. They want to bicycle, walk or take public transportation. They like living near food trucks and dive bars," write Keates and Fowler.
Although "the gentrification is far from complete," as Keates and Fowler observe, those same "gritty" elements that attract enthusiastic renters and buyers are being forced out of some of the last areas of the city to offer housing options to middle and lower class families.
FULL STORY: The Hot Spot for the Rising Tech Generation
Does Zoning Create a Vicious Circle—Or Can It Fix Itself?
Ideally, planners could balance homeowners' interests in zoning against the public good, liberalizing zoning when prices got too high. But this may be politically impossible.
S.F. Rezoning Plan Paused for Equity Analysis
A plan to rezone parcels around the busy intersection of Market Street and Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco, called the Hub, will undergo an analysis of the potential impacts of the plan on marginalized communities.
'A Strange, Second-Wave Gentrification' in San Francisco
Vast amounts of tech money have transformed the city's commercial spaces in unexpected ways.
Florida Considers Legalizing ADUs
Current state law allows — but doesn’t require — cities to permit accessory dwelling units in single-family residential neighborhoods.
HUD Announces Plan to Build Housing on Public Lands
The agency will identify federally owned parcels appropriate for housing development and streamline the regulatory process to lease or transfer land to housing authorities and nonprofit developers.
Manufactured Crisis: Losing the Nation’s Largest Source of Unsubsidized Affordable Housing
Manufactured housing communities have long been an affordable housing option for millions of people living in the U.S., but that affordability is disappearing rapidly. How did we get here?
Report Outlines Strategies for Resilient Wildfire Recovery in LA
Project Recovery offers a roadmap for rebuilding more sustainable and climate-resilient communities after wildfires and other disasters.
New Executive Order Renews Attack on Public Lands
An order issued late last week pushes for increased mineral extraction on federally owned public lands.
Study: Larger Vehicles Lead to More Congestion
New research links large SUVs to lower traffic throughput.
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