Residential Exodus Brings A Silver Lining

In the past month, San Francisco's seen a 96% increase of properties available. Homes are hitting the market left and right and it's spiking like crazy. This is alongside rental prices plummeting while residents pack up and head to cheaper pastures, validating that our beloved city is reaching it's decade pinnacle of a signature pattern that we like to call the 10 year switcheroo. Every decade or so, our stunning city drastically turns an epic corner and catapults into a new direction. The last encounter was with the tech tax break, causing an influx of high paid engineers to join our city which drove up property prices and strangled diversity. The prior switcheroo was the dot com bust when everyone and their landlord fled the city as the industry bottomed out. This came after the historic dot com boom with a mirror image reversal whereby San Fran was flooded with tech kids all wanting to desperately change the world. 

Each time our city has a residential spring clean, a new wave of cultural changes hits our doorstep. Sometimes we appreciate some of these spring cleans and other times, we don't. In this current pandemic, the situation is bitter sweet: People have lost their jobs, yet thanks to government support, not their homes. Instead of the homeless jammed into the Tenderloin area, Covid-19 social distancing laws expanded the poverty geographical boundaries towards various district tent villages so they could enjoy a change of scenery, a home and guaranteed food. The Tenderloin hosted 420 tents a few months ago. Last week, that number was down to a congratulatory 47 tents. Beloved, long running businesses have permanently shut up shop including the iconic Tong Kiang, Zanze's, It's Tops, The Stud and St. Francis Fountain, to name but a few while new restaurants immediately started pivoting into charitable food ventures.

It's been five months of ups and downs that's now resulting in a residential exodus. But we do ask all the ones that are leaving our famous city one thing: When you're packing up and are ready to settle in new land, think about the clothing you don't want anymore. Instead of dumping them in your trash and assuming a homeless person may see them, offer them directly to someone living on the street, give them to the Emergency Design Collective or call your local Salvation Army to arrange a handover. Just because you're jumping ship during this switcheroo doesn't mean you can't have compassion and empathy for the ones left behind. Give away socks, underwear, jackets, scarves, gloves, sweaters, shirts, trousers and blankets. 

Be kind, be sensible and please be the person that reaches out and pays forward, just before you sail off into the sunset.