San Francisco Rents Engineer, When Katharine Patterson first considered moving to the city, she told friends she'd rather live in a van than pay rent here, according to a piece she wrote for Quartz. She proved as good as her word, moving into a red 1969 Volkswagen camper van after landing a software engineering job at an unnamed "multi-million dollar office complex" in Silicon Valley.
Patterson notes that a single room with a shared bathroom in San Francisco can go for $2,000, a bunk in a "hacker house" is $1,000 and a studio apartment is out of reach for the non-millionaires among us. Even if she was willing to pay rent here, she wrote, she would resent being unable to put that money toward student loans.
"And as a software engineer, I'm one of the lucky ones!" she wrote. "Imagine those who aren't lucky enough to be on the tech payroll."
Patterson spent the equivalent of three months' rent to buy her current home, which came with two holes between the engine and the interior, broken gauges and a temperamental ignition, according to her blog. She ripped out the carpets, spent three hours sweeping and dusting and scraped a "strange velcro-esque material" stuck to metal interior parts of the van.
Then she went to IKEA. Patterson picked up a dresser, carpet and crates. She made her bed. Patterson named the van Jamal Junior, after a bike she had in college named Jamal, and took up residency on Oct. 11. Since then, she's made renovations such as fixing locks, adding curtains and installing bolts on her dresser drawers.
In addition to her blog, Patterson has used Instagram to share photos of her experience. There's Jamal Junior parked next to a van with a HIPPIE5 license plate. There's the dresser, bed and a bright backpack. Comments are generally supportive, with people praising her Quartz article, wishing her luck and directing her toward resources on fixing a Volkswagen or living in one.
Patterson acknowledges in her Quartz piece that the van's spiders have "more of a right to be here than I do," since sleeping in a car on public property is illegal in California. Still, she hasn't been harassed for pulling up and parking her van in places.
Patterson notes that a single room with a shared bathroom in San Francisco can go for $2,000, a bunk in a "hacker house" is $1,000 and a studio apartment is out of reach for the non-millionaires among us. Even if she was willing to pay rent here, she wrote, she would resent being unable to put that money toward student loans.
"And as a software engineer, I'm one of the lucky ones!" she wrote. "Imagine those who aren't lucky enough to be on the tech payroll."
Patterson spent the equivalent of three months' rent to buy her current home, which came with two holes between the engine and the interior, broken gauges and a temperamental ignition, according to her blog. She ripped out the carpets, spent three hours sweeping and dusting and scraped a "strange velcro-esque material" stuck to metal interior parts of the van.
Then she went to IKEA. Patterson picked up a dresser, carpet and crates. She made her bed. Patterson named the van Jamal Junior, after a bike she had in college named Jamal, and took up residency on Oct. 11. Since then, she's made renovations such as fixing locks, adding curtains and installing bolts on her dresser drawers.
In addition to her blog, Patterson has used Instagram to share photos of her experience. There's Jamal Junior parked next to a van with a HIPPIE5 license plate. There's the dresser, bed and a bright backpack. Comments are generally supportive, with people praising her Quartz article, wishing her luck and directing her toward resources on fixing a Volkswagen or living in one.
Patterson acknowledges in her Quartz piece that the van's spiders have "more of a right to be here than I do," since sleeping in a car on public property is illegal in California. Still, she hasn't been harassed for pulling up and parking her van in places.
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