Everyone wants a piece of San Francisco right now. That's why it's so hard to live here
I'm assistant professor of sociology at San Francisco State University.
Between me and my partner we make anywhere between a $100,000 and
$110,000 a year and that's considered low income here.
My family of four: my partner, our two children live in a one-bedroom apartment in a high-rise we pay
$2,400.
We are living in a university subsidized apartment, so that's why we have it a little cheaper, but it's still a one-bedroom apartment.
For four people it's a little tight, right?
I've lived in many major cities, and I've lived in San Francisco before, but this time around it's super hard to find affordable housing.
So when I get up in the morning I get my kids ready to go. My partner
and I will be tag-teaming on that. I'll get breakfast started, and I'll cook eggs and
sausage, cut up an avocado.
Child: "I want avocado."
You don't like avocado, but you like eggs.
Child: "I don't want eggs!"
On days that I go [see?] child care. After we've eaten breakfast, we'll head over to her daycare.
We pay around
$1,300 a month for daycare for our two-year-old daughter.
I think that the state should have more responsibility to working parents and working families to help them afford quality
child care for their children.
Our transportation costs monthly vary, but this is where we're trying to save money
San Francisco and the Bay Area has a definite car culture,
but between me and my partner we share one car. We pay around
$60 for gas a month because we drive a hybrid and we fill up for gas every two weeks or something like that.
When I get onto campus, I'll grab a coffee and a bite to eat.
Come to the office,
I will get my work done, respond to emails,
get back to paper writing or grading or something like that in my office.
After I've done some work in the office or after I've taught, I'll go to lunch at a local sandwich shop.
On some days my husband and my son will join me and we'll have lunch together before I come back to work.
Feeding a family of four, we really rely on meal planning and cooking at home. So, every week
we try and go grocery shopping.
We are
Lucky enough to live in the city where we have
friends and are raising our family in community. So, at times friends come over to share a meal with us
and they'll bring dishes to come and share and break bread together.
The bay area is a lovely place to grow up in, right. It's super diverse.
I remember growing up here as an immigrant and a child of an immigrant and
knowing that my mother was working a low-wage job.
Being a working-class family and an immigrant family here in the Bay Area
was never easy, right? It's not just like it happened in 2017 where, you know, it's hella hard to live here now.
I think there is some sort of myth around that that it's just happening at this moment
Even if I am a professor and I have these great benefits
Often it's harder and harder to justify how to live in this city because it's so expensive
Homeownership in the Bay Area feels like chasing a dream. It's what they call a seller's market.
There's no negotiation. Someone will always outbid you in terms of buying a home here in San Francisco.
When we do buy a home, it will be in the East Bay.
Somewhere not in San Francisco and not in the peninsula.
There's a push and pull about living in San Francisco: the, you know, "I left my heart in San Francisco" kind of feeling, but also
you're brokenhearted in San Francisco because you can't afford to live here.