Two Cats Live In A Flat With Rs 1 Lakh Rent In Silicon Valley, Where People Can't Afford Houses

In Santa Clara County in Silicon Valley, two tenants are living THE life in their apartment. They have more space than they need, never have to work, and people serve them food everyday.

That's because the two tenants in this $1,500 per month studio apartment are cats. That's right, just two cats. No humans.

Callisch, in the apartment he rents to the two cats - Anda Chua/Bay Area News Group

The landlord, David Callisch, is happy to rent to the owner of the two felines, his friend Troy Good. Good had adopted the cats as kittens for his now 18-year-old daughter. She's just gone off to college and had to leave them behind.

Good meanwhile had just moved into a new apartment with his wife and dog, and was worried the pets wouldn't all get along. So instead he spoke to Callisch and began renting the studio apartment for a steep $1,500 a month.

Anda Chua/Bay Area News Group

Peak Silicon Valley

It's pretty much the epitome of what's called the Silicon Valley effect, with the family pets of a software industry employee living a better life than most people in the area. And that apartment is actually a pretty sweet deal for Good, considering it would have rented for closer to $1950 if it didn't lack a kitchen.

Stanford campus in Silicon Valley - Reuters

To convert that, it's about Rs 1.06 lakh a month in rent, for a second house inhabited by just two cats. And that price is about average for Silicon Vallety, which is the reason natives of the area are now broke, destitute, in debt, or some combination of the three.

There's a tremendous financial divide between the inhabitants of the region. The Googlers, Facebookers, and other tech company employees are paid big bucks to move to and settle in Silicon Valley. Meanwhile, because of the massively high gentrification thanks to the tech companies headquarters there, people that have lived there for generations are being priced out.

Reuters

Thousands are scattered in the cities in trailers, tents, and on the streets, trying to eke out enough of a living to deal with skyrocketing rents and prices. You see when the tech companies set up shop, they brought in hundreds and then thousands of employees.

The housing sector couldn't keep up with the demand though, and prices starting shooting up exponentially. Eventually, people who had rented for years just couldn't afford it anymore, but they couldn't afford to up and move either.

Silicon Valley locals demonstrating against the gentrification - Reuters

The situation has gotten so bad that last year the angry native residents even began pelting tech company shuttle buses with stones, lashing out desperately at the situation they're powerless to control. After all, the companies that set up with big promises of "giving back to the community" never ended up delivering.

It's a hidden cost to the modern goods and services we see coming out of the industry in the US. People on different continents benefit from convenient products, and employees draw ridiculously high salary. Meanwhile, the locals left out of the chain are on the street across from the house they once lived in.