Author | Arantxa HerranzSan Francisco. The city with the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz prison. One of the largest cities in the United States and home to important tech companies: Twitter, Apple, Dropbox… The birthplace of entrepreneurship and of some of the most highly rated companies by employees; firms which, in turn, seek highly qualified professionals, which they attract with high salaries and bonuses.There is another side to this coin. The high purchasing power of the most privileged residents of San Francisco has contributed to the drastic increase in the price of rented accommodation, food and other living costs. Furthermore, many small companies are incapable of competing with these salary levels, which increases inequalities within metropolitan areas.One of the consequences of these inequalities is that there has been an increase in the number of homeless people. This concentration of homeless people has also led to the owners of businesses in these areas and residents and politicians, to discuss how the problem should be dealt with.
A map of inequality
In order to try to resolve these situations, the first thing to do is to establish the exact figures. Three different groups have collected demographic data of San Francisco, with the aim of creating a map of inequality that helps those responsible for preparing policies and community defender organisations to design solutions for the inequality problem in the region.That is how Bay Area Equity Atlas came about, with the aim of improving the lives of working class residents and minority groups in the region. One of its most recent reports revealed, for example, that there is an overrepresentation of white senior elected staff in the Bay Area (particularly men), while the Latin communities or Asian or Pacific Islanders are underrepresented.