The homeless crisis of Silicon Valley, and how we can reverse it

Silicon Valley is one of the most expensive places to live in the world. With average rents of $2,400, it is twice the price of the average rent an American pays. Silicon Valley is dominated by employees for prominent companies such as Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, and Intel. These employees make over $100,000 dollars a year. Not only is this significantly higher than the average salary for other states, but if you get paid anything below this immense amount you are considered poor. Housing has become so unaffordable that San Francisco and the Bay Area have one of the highest homeless rates out of any state. That is the problem with the American economy, it’s beneficial to certain groups. The wealth divide is so extreme that one of the richest American neighborhoods also has one of the highest number of people homeless. San Francisco has $10,000 people homeless with many living in their vans. College professors are forced to sleep in the car, along with other professions even though they make a decent wage that is higher than the average American wage. Recently, I was watching a video about a bartender who was forced to rent a garage. My immediate question was “If she was a bartender, why live in the most expensive city in America”. This question lingered in my mind for sometime, until I understood the reason. It is due to opportunity. Many of these people who are not in the tech industry only receive jobs from this area, giving them no other option. The Bay Area is filled with software companies, but lacks low wage workers, hence creating a demand for them. Living with a salary under $50,000 in this area is tough, and one will need to sacrifice a lot unlike if they were to live in another city. How can this crisis be reversed? In my opinion, the government must play a more substantial role in helping the homeless. This may include benefits, tax cuts, and assurance of jobs if they are unemployed. We will not just wake up one day and have this situation solved, but the government should take a drastic initiative. We can also contribute by volunteering at homeless shelters, serving food for the unprivileged, or just talking with these people and creating optimism among them.