The cost of housing can be intimidating and depressing for Bay Area adults. Now imagine what its like for teens like Zoe Harwood.
Will I and my classmates be able to live in the Bay Area in five years? When I asked my dad this question, he made a simple prediction: only Facebook employees, hedge-fund managers and high priced assassins would even be able to afford it. About a month ago, I went to find out if there was any truth in that.
I was born in Oakland, raised in El Sobrante and lived in the Bay Area all of my life. So when dad first made his prediction, I thought: That’s crazy! But as it turns out, he was onto something.
Dad says when he bought our house, it was around $350,000. Today, the median house in El Sobrante has skyrocketed to $505,000. In El Cerrito, where I go to school, the median price is $882,000. And in big name cities like San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose, that number can be over a million dollars.
Naturally I went to apartments to find something in the realm of affordable, but even those can be expensive: in San Francisco, a one bedroom apartment can rent for almost $4,000 dollars! Yeah, it’s insane!