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People should really think about how most people don’t want to leave family, job opportunities, to go somewhere they have no ties just for ‘lower COL’ (which can and does change quickly).

Then you’re truly fucked when you lose your remote job.

Every major global city around the world has the exact same housing pressures and costs. This is the outcome of our neoliberal global economy. Anywhere there’s a buy property as an investment mechanism.

If you’re not experiencing extremely high costs of living, there probably aren’t the same degree of opportunities for an outsider there. It’s a totally different convo for someone retiring or someone who is *from* the place.

If I weren’t living in San Francisco, I’d be living in my country on the other side of the world where the housing costs and salaries are kind of the same.

We are all fucked. But you know what? I’d rather be fucked and living in a place I want to live in.

That’s not to say there’s nothing of value in your podunk city / town. Just that maybe there is a reason a home costs 100K there (you need to be extremely privileged to make much more than that, there).

People aren’t not coming to your podunk city / town because there aren’t better places to live than New York / San Francisco / Seattle / LA. It’s that the switching costs are extremely high, and once you make the move you can’t easily go back.

So you have to be motivated by something: a deep desire to buy cheap property, a love for that community, family connections.

I have much better luck moving to any other big global city in the world with exactly the same housing / salary costs than to some podunk city / town. That’s just the way it is.

@skinnylatte I ended up living in Vermont because I was homeless and unemployed with nowhere to go, and this was the only place that a friend offered me a place to live.

Ten years later, I've been homeless in this town twice more, because of the extreme housing crisis and stagnant economy, but thankfully have been marginally housed for over 7 yrs.

I just ran for my first public office and won a 3-year term. I'm still living in poverty, underemployed, and brown and queer in a very white place.

@skinnylatte It's not a paid position, but I will be advocating for policies that will hopefully produce equity and growth for my community.