Short on housing, but long on tents

San Francisco housing has become a national conversation.  Rents are now as high or higher than NYC.  The conversation is top-of-mind & visible all over the city...

Lots of debate in the November elections...

(Propositions to put a moratorium on market rate construction & limit Airbnb type of rentals were among the hotly debated) 

Even seeping into school conversations....

...with a homework assignment graphing the 'impossible equation' of it all:
Average salaries barely budging + skyrocketing housing cost = the math doesn't work

Maybe a surprising topic for 5th grade - but, maybe not, given our school has already lost several teachers fleeing to a cheaper cost of living

Meanwhile homelessness is up & families end up staying in tiny starter apartments they moved into way back when & can't afford to move out of (rent control keeps increases well below market rates - creating a huge spread in prices)

It is a mess & I honestly do not know the answer....But this is not supposed to be a depressing blog.


Uncomfortably related, just days before the elections full of housing measures, Xavier's class went on a camping field trip...

Being that the campground was in the city, we took the city bus + walked there...

Got an ocean view along the way......

And later hiked around amazing surroundings

(I wonder if these kids have any idea how lucky they are?!)

We stayed in an urban oasis of a campground

(I think the big red ball won vs. scenery with the kids)

So while we may be super short on housing, we have some pretty amazing parks - with even a campground in the city.


Here's to brave teachers willing to sleep out & hoping we find a way to solve the housing problem - so camping out can be a 'get to' for everyone & a 'have to' for none.