The AI Boom Is Creating Housing Costs in the Bay Area That You’ll Think You Must Be Hallucinating

Akin to a rapacious maw, the AI boom has swallowed up untold amounts of water, energy, and jobs lost to automation.

Now add the rapidly dwindling housing stock in the Bay Area as even more tech workers crowd in, lured by the possibility of enriching themselves in this massive AI gold rush, according to reporting from The San Francisco Standard.

Housing costs are already notoriously high in the San Fran area, but the AI boom has ratcheted up numbers to eye-watering figures while startup workers are forced to bunk up in small but costly rooms that are the spendy equivalent of flophouses, the publication reports.

In an eye-opening example, tech bro Akshyae Singh is living in what sounds like a postage-size room and has to share the bathroom with 12 other folks. And he’s paying — get this — a ridiculous $2,300 a month for the privilege.

“My professional life is great,” Singh told the Standard, “but my living situation is, like, the total opposite.”

It’s so bad that people are snatching up apartments unseen while open house events are attracting droves of would-be renters. Some people have resorted to putting together “tenant résumés” to get a leg up on the competition.

Leasing agent Brian Brown told the news outlet that he now has only a handful of listings — in contrast to 80 units at the height of the COVID pandemic.

“It’s the AI boom,” realtor Van den Eikhof told the Standard. “Everybody knows that. Also, I think a lot of people got good deals during COVID and are staying put. It’s putting a strain on inventory.”

The numbers are bonkers. Two-bedroom abodes have increased by 16 percent, reaching $4,621 on average, according to Zumper, which the news outlet cited. Median rent is $3,461. Certain neighborhoods like North Beach have jumped an astonishing 79 percent in the past year, topping out at an average of $5,475 per month for a two-bedroom.

One agent told the Standard that she recently listed a two-bedroom unit for $12,000 per month, but it got snapped up in a single day for $14,500.

You might wonder how regular non-tech folks are faring. For starters, the city has a terrible homeless problem, with people living rough outside or sleeping in RVs. Service workers, the people who clean and cook after these tech bros, often have to commute in from extraordinary distances.

Even with recent progress on affordable housing in the Bay Area, ordinary people are undoubtedly shut out if you look at the numbers. The moving company PODS reported earlier this year that Los Angeles and the Bay Area are the top two locales with the “Highest Number of Move-Outs Ranked.”

And as the AI boom swallows up resources and attention, it’s all only going to get worse.

More on AI and costs: AI Data Centers Accused of Creating Major Problems for Local Water Systems