A new photo essay by Scot Hampton, a San Francisco-based photographer, underscores the rising rents in the "Frisco" through satire.
For his photo shoot, Hampton placed "for rent" signs on everything from manholes ("Spacious basement apartment," the caption reads), to a streetside planter ("Garden penthouse studio in mid-Market area"), with made up prices ranging from $2,000 to $7,350.
"Light and Airy!" the description for the planter continues. "You'll enjoy the fresh breezes of Market street as they blow through your perfectly manicured and landscaped garden. Coveted mid-market area, close to shops and right on the major Muni and BART lines. Landscaping included. Utilities not included."
A mailbox dubbed "Studio Loft" is also available for $3,000 a month, and is described as having "vaulted ceilings."
The pictures cleverly capture rental conditions in San Francisco, where the 10.6 percent year-over-year change in rents recorded in December 2013 well exceeded the national average of 3 percent, Trulia reports.
The San Francisco Chronicle points out that the increasing demand and exodus of techies into the city could be the reason for the outrageous rise in rents. In fact, Business Insider has gone so far as to compile visual maps depicting how the tech influx is affecting the real estate market of San Francisco. According to the maps, the rich are shacking up in Palo Alto, while the less well-off (those earning less than $100,000) are being pushed toward Oakland and more inconvenient suburbs.
"Rent is now over $3 per square foot around Palo Alto, but prices have really been driven up in San Francisco, where rent is now $4-$5 per square foot. That would make a small, 600-square foot apartment cost $3,000 a month," according to the website.
While the arrival of rich and young tech employees may have given the economy a boost, many feel the city is losing out in other ways.
"Anybody spending their time doing something that doesn't come with a big pay cheque is having to move and that includes the creative sector and any kind of social justice work," Zeph Fishlyn, a resident of San Francisco, told The Guardian.
Earlier, at the famous Google Bus protests, Rebecca Solnit, a local author and historian told News Fix KQED:
"I think the reason a lot of us were out there blockading this morning is that we're looking at a city that could become homogeneous, that could become a very dense suburb ... as it becomes a bedroom community for the Silicon Valley."
