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posted by martyb on Tuesday April 18 2017, @08:08AM   Printer-friendly
from the need-more-land-where-the-water-is dept.

California's Central Valley is best known for supplying nearly 25% of the country's food, including 40% of the fruit and nuts consumed each year. Yet today, backcountry places such as Patterson, population 22,000, are experiencing an increase in homelessness that can be traced, in part, to an unlikely sounding source: Silicon Valley.

The million-dollar home prices about 85 miles west, in San Francisco and San Jose, have pushed aspiring homeowners to look inland. Patterson's population has doubled since the 2000 census. Average monthly rents have climbed from about $900 in 2014 to nearly $1,600 in recent months, according to the apartment database Rent Jungle, compounding the hardships of the foreclosure crisis, the shuttering of several local agricultural businesses and surging substance abuse rates.

"The rents in Patterson are crazy," said Romelia Wiley, program manager of the local not-for-profit organization Community Housing & Shelter Services. "Why? I-5."

The freeway offers commuters access to high-paying job centers near the coast, and the number of people commuting to the Bay Area from the portion of the Central Valley that includes Patterson more than doubled between 1990 and 2013, to about 65,000 people, or at least 15% of the local workforce, according to an analysis by the University of the Pacific.

Why don't they build up instead of out?


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 18 2017, @04:36PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 18 2017, @04:36PM (#495902)

    Why? Is two half-empty condos somehow more profitable than one full condo and one budget apartment tower?

  • (Score: 2) by Arik on Tuesday April 18 2017, @05:21PM

    by Arik (4543) on Tuesday April 18 2017, @05:21PM (#495919) Journal
    "Why? Is two half-empty condos somehow more profitable than one full condo and one budget apartment tower? "

    I suspect the problem is that the value of the condo is expected to decrease if there is a budget apartment tower nearby.
    --
    If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
  • (Score: 2) by sjames on Tuesday April 18 2017, @08:08PM

    by sjames (2882) on Tuesday April 18 2017, @08:08PM (#495990) Journal

    In some cases, yes. If they start renting at affordable rates, the tenants paying more won't be willing to put up with the next rent hike. They'll all wait for the other guy to blink. And all will fear missing out on the big spender if they fill up with commoners.