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The John Kobylt Show

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People Are Living on Boats to Avoid Expensive Housing in San Francisco

Moored metal dinghy rowboat filled with water and seaweed at low tide

Photo Courtesy of Getty Images

How far would you go to avoid paying too much for rent? Would you go so far as to just abandon the land all together and live in the sea?

Apparently some people in San Francisco would.

According to the Wall Street Journal, even people who have jobs are taking to the seas.

Some of these people are simply avoiding the outrageous housing costs in the Bay Area. The median price for housing in this area has risen from $327,000 to $940,000 in the past decade.

Although they are not living with these ridiculous prices, people who choose to live this way have chosen a difficult life. Weather, sanitation, and food along with other factors make the seafaring life complicated and difficult.

Officials have taken to calling these people "anchor-outs" because they permanently set their anchors in the marina. Not only is this illegal and dangerous, but it becomes a nuisance for people who are living on land.

Because anchor-outs are not always the most experienced sailors, boats oftentimes crash into docks.

Aside from this, Connie Strycker says that anchor-outs also ask for hand-outs from people on land, "They're all filthy, because they have no place to bathe".

Residents have asked for a crackdown on these anchor-outs.

Some anchor-outs like their lifestyle on the sea and one of them has said, "There are two ways I'm leaving: in a black body bag or handcuffs".

People in favor of crackdowns say that removing anchor-outs is not special treatment, but rather it is treating everyone equally.


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