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The American Religion of Self-Storage Facilities

282 points · 456 comments · pseudolus

  1. eth0up · · focus · HN ↗
    We also happen to have an extremely serious homelessness problem, which is not relegated to CA.

    Go to any warm state in the country and ride through the parking lots at night. If you are the observant type, you should see an astonishing number of folks living in their vehicles.

    And home ownership is not only downward, but no longer part of the American dream for most people now. Storage facilities for many, are a place to lay down, or rent hope that things won't always be "this way".

    We need to fix this. It's not just drugs and mental problems anymore.

    1. api · · focus · HN ↗
      Required link I always leave in these discussions:

      <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;worksinprogress.co&#x2F;issue&#x2F;the-housing-theory-of-everything&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;worksinprogress.co&#x2F;issue&#x2F;the-housing-theory-of-every...

      IMO high housing prices are destroying civilization.

      1. Swizec · · focus · HN ↗
        &gt; IMO high housing prices are destroying civilization.

        It&#x27;s like a game of musical chairs. There aren&#x27;t enough houses to go around. You go around and the music stops. Everyone scrambles to their nearest chair. Obviously the person on crutches will be the first to fall out of the game. The rest then talk about laziness, drugs, bootstraps, and all the rest. But add 1 more chair and there&#x27;s no problem, even the dude with the broken leg can sit.

        1. cobbzilla · · focus · HN ↗
          Someone tried to build the extra chair but the endless required studies and legal challenges from existing chair-sitters bankrupted the would-be chair builder.

          Also the chair, if actually built, would be so expensive that one legged guy can’t afford it. His best hope is someone with a worse chair takes it, then he tries to take their seat, but there’s already a dozen two-legged guys in front of him.

          1. Swizec · · focus · HN ↗
            &gt; Also the chair, if actually built, would be so expensive that one legged guy can’t afford it. His best hope is someone with a worse chair takes it, then he tries to take their seat, but there’s already a dozen two-legged guys in front of him.

            Maybe you need 5 chairs? Here in SF supply has fallen decades behind the demand curve to the point it may be impossible to catch up even if all you did was build build build.

            1. cobbzilla · · focus · HN ↗
              POSIWID

              decades of reasonable, consistently applied housing policy led to the creation of islands of wealth, surrounded by oceans of poverty. ergo, this is the purpose. this is how the people there want to live. I left many years ago when I realized the futility of it all.

              1. flerchin · · focus · HN ↗
                Excellent use of posiwid
              2. api · · focus · HN ↗
                I call SF and Silicon Valley “the world’s only slum for the rich.”

                What buys you a trap house or an apartment with hallways that smell like piss in SF or the Valley will buy you a mansion in 90% of the country at least.

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