Episode 1: "Isn't There an App for That?"

Click on the title for more info about this Episode!
Dyan Ruiz, Joseph Smooke | 04/09/2019

Meet Curtis, a High School teacher, and Riley, a tech gig worker, in their micro-unit in San Francisco. They've just received a rent increase and need to figure out how to keep their growing family in the City.

Notes for Episode 1

                RILEY

    Let's get going. We've got a lot of house-hunting to do.

                CURTIS

    I hope we find something! I don't want to commute three hours a day like some other teachers.

https://sfist.com/2019/02/19/is-the-bay-area-becoming-a-21-county-megaregion/

                RILEY

    I'm bringing Olive with us!

                CURTIS

    Come on Riley. Do we really need artificial intelligence to help us find a new place?

                RILEY

    If I can get food delivered at 3am for my crazy cravings, then why can't an app make housing easier? Besides, OLIVE teaches and learns too!

    CURTIS, I know we're not stackin' the loot...

    But with two incomes -- part-time coding and full time teaching -- we should be ok, right?"

http://www.sfusd.edu/en/employee-resources/labor-and-union-information/contracts-and-salary-schedules.html

https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/highest-paying-entry-level-tech-jobs-2019

                OLIVE

    The average price of a 2 bedroom home in San Francisco is $1.3 million.

Zillow evaluation of “median home value” in San Francisco

https://www.zillow.com/san-francisco-ca/home-values/

Trulia evaluation of median sales price

https://www.trulia.com/real_estate/San_Francisco-California/market-trends/

 

The average rent for a 2 bedroom apartment is $4,500 a month.

RentJungle evaluation of rent trends in SF

https://www.rentjungle.com/average-rent-in-san-francisco-rent-trends

 

                CURTIS

    Check this out!

                RILEY

    (reading headline) San Francisco Housing Crisis Spurs Calls for Less Rules

                CURTIS

    Mayor Chen mentioned this to me when she dropped off her son at my class yesterday. San Francisco hasn't built enough housing for years and now we're paying the price.

                OLIVE

    San Francisco is the second-most densely populated city in the United States.

https://realestate.usnews.com/real-estate/articles/the-most-dense-cities-in-america

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population_density

                CURTIS

    See, the supply hasn't kept up with the demand!

                OLIVE

    From 1950 to 2013, San Francisco built two new housing units for every new person.

http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov/counties/SanFranciscoCounty50.htm

Chart of data from the US Census

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15t3KSAlBXhK1ZUS_CScyH5okZsXz8v9v7_QwjDw8PzU/edit#gid=0

 

          

Change 1950 - 2010

Change 1950 - 2018

 

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

2017 ACS

July 1, 2018

  

Total Population

775,357

740,316

715,674

678,974

723,959

776,733

805,235

864,263

883,305

29,878

107,948

Total Dwelling units

265,726

310,559

   

346,527

376,942

390,376

401,452

111,216

135,726

Vacant Units

7,312

18,584

   

16,827

31,131

31,604

 

23,819

 

% of Units Vacant

2.75%

5.98%

   

4.86%

8.26%

8.10%

 

5.51%

 

http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov/counties/SanFranciscoCounty50.htm

https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/sanfranciscocountycalifornia/PST045218

https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_17_5YR_DP04&prodType=table

https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_17_5YR_DP05&prodType=table

 

    And as of 2015, there's 30,000 vacant units in San Francisco.

US Census ACS 2017 data

https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_17_5YR_DP04&prodType=table

 

                CURTIS

    I've never heard these stats before. If there's so much housing and so many vacant units, then why is housing so expensive? 

                RILEY

    This does seem really complicated, but I'm sure Olive can figure it out!

                CURTIS

    I have a friend who's a developer. HE CAN help us figure this out.