Hundreds of Tenants Are Latest Victims of Silicon Valley's Creeping Inequality

The latest victims in “a tidal wave of displacement,” about 670 people are set to be evicted from a rent-controlled housing complex in San Jose, California, to make way for more upscale development.

The Guardian reports Thursday on the residents of the Reserve Apartments—”located five miles away from Apple’s headquarters, 14 miles away from Google and 20 miles away from Facebook”—who “recently learned they would all have to move out by April of next year so that developers could move forward with construction of new housing that many of them will not be able to afford.”

Indeed, none of the apartments in the new mixed-use space will be below market rate, according to the developer.

As the Guardian notes, “The Reserve evictions are part of a much broader trend of northern California communities becoming unaffordable to middle-class people in the face of rapid gentrification and a booming tech economy.”

The impacted tenants are people like Kira Nelson, a 32-year-old stay-at-home mother, who told the Guardian that she is considering moving 120 miles away to Sacramento—away from her family, but at least the rent is cheaper.

“I don’t resent the millionaires … but all the locals are moving out,” she said.