In an article posted on Realtor®, the official website of the National Association of REALTORS®, Judy Dutton wrote about a tech professional who decided not to spend a big chunk of her salary on the ridiculously high rental rates in San Francisco. The young professional instead purchased an old red bus to be her home.
Katharine Patterson, a software engineer in Silicon Valley, shared her story through her blog in Quartz. Even before she got employed, she vowed to live elsewhere instead of paying a high rent. "Have you seen the rent in San Francisco? If I get a job in the Bay Area, I'll totally live in a van," Patterson told a friend over lunch about a year ago.
After she received a job offer last summer, she started looking for a place and was shocked to find a $2,000 per month single room with a shared bathroom, and a $1,000 per month single bunk in a room with eight people, referred to as a "hacker house." She resented such pricing and thought it would be better to pay her student loan instead.
Three weeks ago, she took the equivalent of three months of rent and bought a 1969 VW camper van, which has a hole in the floor and a family of spiders. Through IKEA and with a big amount of cleaning supplies, Patterson was able to transform the old vehicle into a livable space.
"Overall, I'm proud of the way my project turned out. But of course this living situation wouldn't be possible if I didn't already have a job that feeds me and allows me to shower and do laundry at work, " she said.
She wrote that she has a network of friends who are ready to help her and offer her a temporary bed. "And I am a young, white woman, which gives me the immense privilege of pulling up a creepy van and parking it without being harassed. People don't report me; neither do they assume I'm a vagrant. They smile and ask if I need anything," Patterson added.
She explained that many people are forced to live in their cars because living in the Bay Area has become unaffordable. Although she is not among those, she shares with their hardship. She admits saving hard for her debts and learning a few essential skills to be a carpenter and mechanic.
Finally, Patterson realizes, "I'm one of the lucky ones! Imagine those who aren't lucky enough to be on the tech payroll."
