• KPMG is set to move out of its $400 million namesake building as the city’s ‘doom loop’ continues to batter its downtown region
• It comes as shoe store Alto also prepares to exit San Francisco Centre, the city’s biggest mall, next week
• Nearly 100 retailers in downtown San Francisco have closed since the start of the pandemic, a decline of more than 50 percent, according to a recent report 

Accounting firm KPMG is set to move out of its $400 million namesake building, another high-profile exit from San Francisco’s beleaguered downtown.

The consulting and accounting giant first leased space in the 25-story office tower when the building opened in 2002.  Its name hangs above the entry to the skyscraper where the company currently occupies more than 100,000 square feet. 

It comes as shoe store Alto prepares to exit San Francisco Centre, the city’s biggest mall, next week.

Businesses and residents have fled downtown San Francisco since the pandemic with groups blaming crime, homelessness and work-from-home keeping people from downtown. 

Nearly 100 retailers in downtown San Francisco have closed since the start of the pandemic, a decline of more than 50 percent, according to a recent report. 

KPMG is set to move out of its $400 million namesake building after two decades in downtown San Francisco Nordstrom have recently moved out of the city’s downtown contributing to a loss of footfall

KMPG, a large accounting and financial firm, originally took 90,000 square feet at 55 Second St. in a 10-year contract, marking the second-largest office deal of 2003.

It has since grown its footprint to span nearly one-third of the 380,000-square-foot building, leading to it being widely known as ‘The KPMG Building’.

The company is now considering ending its two-decade-long relationship with the building, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. It’s the latest tenant looking to exit the downtown area. 

Now, another business is set to leave the area’s largest shopping center as Aldo moves its store from the San Francisco Centre. The mall lost Adidas last Saturday, as well as other recent losses including Hollister, Lego and J. Crew. 

The mall lost $910 million between 2016 and 2023, with half the rental space now empty, according to an appraisal published last month.

Its owners lost control of the 5-million-square-foot retail and office complex to lenders last year. 

The high-profile closures and exits suggest San Francisco’s ‘doom loop’ is far from over. A doom loop is where a city loses its tax base and can’t afford improvements needed to fix the situation to bring new businesses and residents back to an area. 

The city’s downtown has suffered from the proliferation of homeless encampments, open-air drugs markets and rampant theft. 

Hordes of brand names, including the likes of Whole Food and Nordstrom, that have recently moved out contributing to a loss of footfall that then drives out other businesses.

The city has also struggled for years with rampant fentanyl use and fatal overdoses. 

Nearly 100 retailers in downtown San Francisco have closed since the start of the COVID pandemic, a decline of more than 50 percent, according to a recent report The city’s downtown has suffered from the proliferation of homeless encampments, open-air drugs markets and rampant theft The city has also struggled for years with rampant fentanyl use and fatal overdoses

In the first five months of 2023, preliminary reports show there were 346 overdose deaths in the city – an increase of more than 40 percent from the same period in 2022.

Economists have warned the city is spiraling into an ‘urban doom loop’ – a vicious circle of interconnected trends and forces that send cities into economic and social ruin.

High theft has proved a problem in the area recently, with a Walgreens in the city center resolving to chaining their freezers to stop shoplifters.

Retail stalwart Old Navy announced they would be shuttering their flagship store in the area last month.

Anthropologie and Office Depot have also made the same decisions.

These stores joined the growing list of stores that have abandoned the coastal city, including H&M, Marshall’s, Gap and Banana Republic.

A disturbing recent report showed 95 retailers in downtown San Francisco have closed since the start of the COVID pandemic, a decline of more than 50 percent.

Out of 203 retailers open in 2019 in the city’s Union Square area, just 107 are still operating, a drop of 47 percent in just a few pandemic-ravaged years.

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SAN FRANCISCO — As PG&E moves forward with the utility’s plan to bury thousands of miles of power lines underground, there are some who question whether there’s a cheaper alternative to keep the Bay Area safe.

The utility company says it is on track to put hundreds of miles of powerlines underground by the end of 2023. 

KPIX got an up close look of the Vacaville underground circuit. It sits in the burn scar of the 2020 LNU Lightning Complex fires. It is a high fire risk area because of the winds. 

“We had a lot of doubters and I am happy to report that today we completed the civil work for the 350th mile. Our goal is to bury 10,000 miles of line,” said PG&E CEO Patti Poppe. 

She says the underground mission is to  prevent future wildfires and reduce public safety power shutoffs. But it comes at a cost to customers.

“I think what most people are worried about is affordability,” said Poppe. “I just want your viewers to know it is less expensive to bury the lines as we are doing than it is to continue to do overhead conductors and all the vegetation management that goes with it year after year after year.”

“The goal is to have these lines live by the end of the year,” she added. “And once they are all energized, you see those high voltage lines? They are all taken down. “

PG&E is still in the early stages of its undergrounding plan that is scheduled to continue through 2026. Some consumer advocates are opposed to the operation and say it is too expensive. 

“What PG&E has proposed is not affordable for customers,” said Katy Marsony with TURN (which stands for The Utility Reform Network). It advocates on behalf of ratepayers and says a faster and cheaper solution is to insulate power lines instead of burying them.

“We don’t believe that undergrounding is the solution in the customers best interest. With insulating power lines, there is a much lower price point and it is installed much more quickly,” said Marsony  

PG&E’s undergrounding plan still needs the final approval  by the California Public Utilities Commission. A vote is expected in November. Until then, Poppe says the utility company is hoping to deliver on its mission.

More from CBS News

Juliette Goodrich

Emmy award winning reporter and Bay Area native Juliette Goodrich joined KPIX 5 in 1997 and has performed a variety of anchoring and reporting assignments during her time with the station. She is currently the weekend nighttime anchor.

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News

By Marjorie Hernandez and Matthew Sedacca

Published
July 15, 2023

Updated
July 15, 2023, 2:25 p.m. ET

Authorities in California have ceded prime real estate on the Venice Beach boardwalk to a rotating cast of vagrants — a microcosm of the insanity plaguing the Golden State amid its spiraling homeless crisis.

For weeks, a vagrant surrounded himself beneath a pagoda along with boardwalk with a dump of grimy grocery carts, tarps and blankets, galling footage posted online showed. He and a friend reportedly rejected aid from police, city workers and LA County Park Rangers — who threw up their hands and let the beachfront takeover persist.

As online outrage grew, Los Angeles cops finally cleared the beach bum this week, only to have a different hobo immediately take over the spot — and all but shut-out taxpaying residents or tourists from enjoying it.

“It’s like they are babysitting [the homeless population],” Reza Karimi, 60, owner of the sunglasses store Good See Co., and whose prime location on the boardwalk is just steps away from the hobo-filled pagodas, told The Post.

“Here I pay taxes, I work every day, but these people are given money for free and yet they still do whatever they want and ruin the city.”

Scott Beers, who took over the primo real estate with his girlfriend, promised to keep it cleaner than the previous “tenant.”

Scott Beers and his girlfriend took over the pagoda after authorities cleared a vagrant who had previously trashed the space.Ringo Chiu

“He had tents up and trashed this whole area up. You can’t have that here,” said Beers, 57.

“I’ve had homes before so I get it,” said Beers, who keeps his belongings neatly stacked on an airport luggage cart. “These people pay millions of dollars to live by the beach and they don’t want to see that s–t all over the place.” 

Beers, who claims to have abandoned a 28-acre cattle ranch and dairy farm in Nevada for life on the streets following his wife’s death, sang the praises of the free services available in the beachside community.

“Venice is my favorite because you can get hot showers every day. You can go out to the food bank three days a week. There is a church nearby that gives you a hot meal. And you can’t beat the views!” he said, noting that he gets by with panhandling and $221 a month from “general relief” funds from the Welfare Office. 

The persistence of homeless encampments in Venice Beach and along the boardwalk has outraged locals and business owners.Ringo Chiu

Bums sang the praises of the free services available in the beachside community. Ringo Chiu

Locals ripped the game of beach bum whack-a-mole.

“People [who have been previously removed] have come back and sleep out on the beach and the boardwalk,” said Jessica, whose family has run a business on the boardwalk for decades. 

“The tourists do get scared. They see people screaming or acting out near the shop and they turn around and don’t want to come back.”

California has 171,000 homeless people, representing 30% of the nation’s entire homeless population, according to a June report by the University of California, San Francisco. 

171,000 people are homeless across California.Ringo Chiu

At the height of the pandemic, the city conducted a massive sweep in 2021, busting up by some counts nearly 200 tents on the boardwalk. 

The city’s new mayor, Karen Bass, has also cracked down on encampments as part of her “Inside Safe” initiative launched earlier this year, which aims to connect homeless people with shelters and housing.  

“What we see on our streets cannot continue to be normalized,” said Councilwoman Traci Park, who represents Venice Beach. “I will continue to address the homelessness crisis with dignity and compassion, and fight for the safety and wellbeing of everyone.”

LAPD and the mayor’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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A new report has highlighted several factors to consider when planning charging infrastructure – often seen as the most challenging aspect of the EV transition. The report included a 10-step plan to implement infrastructure and charge vehicles reliably and cost-effectively.

According to the report of North American Freight Efficiency CouncilFleets considering EV deployment “need a basic understanding of electricity and how utilities work to estimate charging costs, easily install chargers and see the fuel savings that result from using electricity instead of diesel for the vehicle driving trucks.”

The Council’s report builds on the 2019 report and included interviews with executives from fleets, truck manufacturers, utilities, charger manufacturers, research groups and industry organizations. The report includes EV charging strategies, a breakdown of charger types and charging service models.

Charging as a service is the payment of a fee to a provider who invests in the charging equipment needed to power customer fleets. With Trucking as a Service or Fleet as a Service, drivers can reserve fully charged electric trucks to pick them up at a scheduled time. The report shows that most fleets are buying charging stations, which can cost anywhere from less than $1,000 to as much as $90,000 per charger, depending on charging speed.

According to the report, aspects of the 10-step plan to implement charging infrastructure include appointing an internal project manager, working with key stakeholders, selecting EVs and chargers, and designing and building the infrastructure. Financial support is available for the transition to electric trucks. Resources facilitating access include Clean Cities Coalitions and electric utilities. A meeting with the latter is also important to ensure that there is enough power available for the infrastructure.

“Remember that your energy supplier has a (regulated) monopoly,” the report says. “No one else can supply your power. It’s important to talk to your energy supplier as soon as you have the slightest thought of converting your fleet to electric trucks. There are more than 3,000 individual utilities in the United States alone, and no two are exactly the same.”

The report also shows that some chargers do not work well with electric trucks and fleets need to work with truck manufacturers to select the appropriate charger. Fleets can use charge management software to ensure vehicles are charged when needed and at the lowest cost. Charging a vehicle during the day and at higher speeds can be more expensive as the power demand is higher. However, charging at slower speeds or lower power is more cost-effective.

A recent study found that 23% of public electric vehicle chargers in the San Francisco Bay Area were unusable. Similar problems have arisen with personal chargers. According to the report, fleets should have a service contract that monitors and repairs equipment with guaranteed minimal downtime.

With a DC fast charger, the Volvo VNR Electric 4×2 Class 8 truck can be charged from 20% to 80% in 50 minutes. Class 8 trucks are the largest truck class and the Volvo truck has a range of 175 miles. According to the report, it was estimated that charging the truck from 20% to full charge took more than four hours, as the charging rate slows down as the battery gets closer to a full charge.

According to the report, DC chargers integrated with battery storage can draw power from the grid when it is more cost-effective. A disadvantage of these systems is that they cannot deliver full power when the batteries are discharged. Wireless charging systems also exist, but they typically charge at slower speeds.

Lowell-based trucking company JB Hunt Transport Services and Bentonville-based retailer Walmart have piloted medium- and heavy-duty electric trucks. Both companies are exploring a mix of alternative fuel trucks, including hydrogen-powered trucks, for their fleets to meet their emission reduction or elimination targets.

Lisa Perry, senior manager of energy services at Walmart, recently said the company is testing Freightliner eCascadia and Nikola Class 8 trucks. She cited battery weight as one of the challenges in deploying Class 8 electric trucks for road transportation.

“They have to be weighed at weigh stations,” Perry said. “Someone told me that it was much easier to make potato chips electrically than soft drinks.”

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The Philippines’ leading home improvement and construction retailer, Wilcon Depot, opened its newest store on June 16, 2023 in Barangay San Nicolas, San Fernando, Pampanga. With a total sales area of ​​over 8,000 square meters and stocked with quality products, the new Wilcon Depot store in Brgy ranges from plumbing, building materials, hardware, home appliances and DIY items. San Nicolas, San Fernando Pampanga is poised to meet the growing demand for home improvement and construction supplies in the province and surrounding areas. The opening ceremony began with a ribbon cutting ceremony attended by local government officials, valued suppliers and Wilcon Depot executives, led by SEVP-COO Rosemarie Bosch-Ong.

TAPE CUTTING Wilcon Depot, the premier home improvement and construction supplies retailer in the Philippines, opened its newest location on June 16, 2023 in the bustling town of San Nicolas, San Fernando, Pampanga. This new Pampanga branch is strategically located to meet the growing demand for high quality materials and housing in the region. Leading the ribbon cutting ceremony are (from left) Yutien Andrada, Terence Tumalip, Raphael Banal, Wilcon Depot 3×3 team players, David Chang, HCG Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Charlie Liu, President of Matimco, Vilma Caluag, Mayor of San Fernando, and Rosemarie, SEVP-COO of Wilcon Depot Bosch-Ong, Roland Poehlmann, Managing Director of Häfele Philippines, James Lim, Marketing President of Limson, Grace Tiong, SVP of Human Resources at Wilcon Depot, Eden Godino, SVP of Product Development , and Francisco Lazaro, AVP of Sales and Operations. PHOTOS BY WILCON

“With the opening of this new office, we reaffirm our commitment to delivering unmatched value, exceptional quality and customer satisfaction. We’re here to provide products, build lasting relationships, and be your trusted partner at every step of your home improvement and construction journey.”

With the opening of the San Nicolas, San Fernando, Pampanga office, Wilcon Depot strengthens its position as the region’s preferred destination for home improvement and construction supplies. The company remains committed to delivering unmatched value, quality and customer satisfaction while continuing to expand its network to better serve growing customer demands.

Wilcon Depot is known for its comprehensive product offering and the new facility in San Nicolas, San Fernando is no exception. Customers visiting the store will be delighted to find a wide range of items including Tile, Sanitary Ware, Sanitary Ware, Furniture, Home Decor, Building Materials, Hardware, Electrical Appliances, Household Appliances and other DIY items. With its extensive range of products, Wilcon Depot ensures customers have access to everything they need to complete their home improvement or construction projects easily and efficiently.

Wilcon Depot in San Nicolas, San Fernando, Pampanga

The company consistently provides quality products and services through its exclusive and in-house brands such as Pozzi for proven bathroom solutions; Hamden, an ideal partner for your kitchen needs; Alphalux, a brand for energy efficient lighting solutions; Kaze, an appliance brand that makes your space clean and healthy; Hills, a trusted brand for construction and electrical supplies; and P.tech, your partner for reliable household items; Grespania, a Spanish brand for high quality ceramic tiles; Herberia, an Italian tile brand for spacious interiors; Grohe and Kohler for plumbing and bathroom solutions; Franke kitchen systems; and Rubi, a partner when it comes to cutting tiles; and under many other brands.

Staying true to its commitment to sustainability and the environment, Wilcon Depot’s San Nicolas, San Fernando, Pampanga facility was designed with eco-friendly features, including energy-efficient lighting systems, water-saving faucets, and other environmentally conscious elements.

Wilcon Depot has always strived to provide convenience to its customers and this new facility in San Nicolas, San Fernando, Pampanga is strategically located to meet the growing needs of the local community and surrounding areas. The spacious layout of the store with various showrooms offers customers a comfortable and pleasant shopping environment, allowing them to explore the extensive range of products at their own pace.

Extensive Tile, Tile Studio, Outdoor Living, Outdoor Living, Home Decor, Plumbing, DIY P.Tech House Plumbing

Valued customers can also shop online at Wilcon by visiting shop.wilcon.com.ph/. To complement the in-store shopping experience, Wilcon Depot also offers browse, call, collect or deliver, and Wilcon Virtual Tour services. Homeowners and builders can also enjoy a more personalized and immersive shopping experience with the Virtual Reality Store Experience. The Wilcon VR Store Experience can transport its customers to a new world of retail home shopping like never before.

This event marks an important milestone for Wilcon Depot as the company continues to expand its reach and improve access to its broad range of products in the Philippines, providing homeowners and builders alike with a one-stop shop for their construction and DIY needs. In 2023, Wilcon Depot plans to open more retail stores as part of its company’s #FlyingHighTo100 store expansion campaign. The company aims to have 100 stores operating nationwide by 2025, barring any unexpected external factors.

Create better spaces for better lives with Wilcon Depot and shop at his newest store daily from 8am to 7pm. Visit Wilcon Depot San Nicolas, San Fernando, Pampanga in Brgy. San Nicolas, McArthur Hwy, San Fernando, Pampanga.

For more information on Wilcon, please visit www.wilcon.com.ph or follow the company’s social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok. You can also subscribe and connect with them on the Viber Community, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

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Houston’s second baseman hit three and registered a pair of RBIs against his former team on Monday.

May 2, 2023Updated: May 2, 2023 11:46 am

HOUSTON, TEXAS – MAY 1: Houston Astros’ Mauricio Dubon #14 reacts to hitting an RBI double during the seventh inning against the San Francisco Giants at Minute Maid Park on May 1, 2023 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)

Carmen Mandato/Getty Images

Mauricio Dubón didn’t mince words when he met the media on Monday night after the Astros’ 7-3 win over the Giants.

Houston’s second baseman — at least until Jose Altuve returns — continued his brilliant 2023 season as he hit three, conceded two runs and registered two RBI against the National League West roster. And the strong performance came with a dose of revenge for the 28-year-old. What was once a rising player in the San Francisco organization was traded to Houston in May 2022, ending a period of frustration for Dubón after sporadic play with the Giants. He raised the issue when speaking to the media after the game, noting he now feels “in heaven” under the tutelage of Houston manager Dusty Baker.

“It’s just, you know, I wasn’t treated right [in San Fransisco]Dubón told MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart after the game. “Coming out here and being a family here and being able to play the way I’m able to play right now, it brings out the human side of me.”

Twitter

— brianmctaggart Twitter

The outstanding performance on Monday was not an isolated event for Dubón. He was one of baseball’s leading tablesetters in 2023, averaging a .317 batting average with 20 runs scored in 24 games. He recorded 20-plus games for most of April and, intangible, Dubón’s athleticism and aggression add serious spark to a Houston lineup currently plagued by injuries and some underperforming on the plate. It’s unlikely Houston would be above .500 on Tuesday without last season’s Dubón takeover.

Dubón’s spot as Houston’s second base could expire as early as this month as Altuve works his way back from his thumb surgery. However, a distance from his everyday spot in the infield shouldn’t stop him from playing at bats (at least semi-) regularly for the remainder of the 2023 season. Dubón has extensive midfield experience and he could either take on the job straight away or play a key role in a rotation with Chas McCormick and Jake Meyers. There will also likely be some stress management from Altuve ahead of the postseason, allowing Dubón to find additional at-bats both at second base and as a potential designated hitter.

Houston’s three-game streak against Dubón’s former team resumes Tuesday night at Minute Maid Park. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. CT.

Michael Shapiro is a sports reporter for Chron, covering the Rockets, Astros and every team in town. A Denver native, University of Texas at Austin graduate, Michael is a noted fan of three-piece pull-ups, wide receiver passes and a good hot fudge sundae.

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SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Wheels, a Helbiz company (NASDAQ:HLBZ) and amongst micro-mobility leaders in North America thanks to its unique sit-down scooter, is launching its first proprietary store in San Francisco, California, to allow for the purchase of its new vehicle, the Wheels One, and a vast assortment of micro-mobility related vehicles and accessories.

The store, to be opened by the end of Q1 2023, will offer a wide selection of electric micro-mobility products, including the highly-anticipated Wheels One, an innovative vehicle developed and patented by Wheels. The Wheels One is designed for urban commuting and features a sleek and compact design, long-range battery, and smooth ride.

In addition to the Wheels One, the store will also offer a variety of other electric vehicles and accessories, including scooters, bikes, and skateboards. Customers can test ride and purchase products on site, and experienced technicians will be available for repairs and maintenance.

“We are thrilled to bring our products and services directly to the people of San Francisco,” said Salvatore Palella, CEO of Helbiz. “Our goal is to make sustainable and convenient transportation accessible to everyone, especially in cities in which shared micro-mobility is not allowed, and we believe that having a physical presence in San Francisco will help us achieve this mission. This will further aid our strategy of driving towards profitability by incrementing revenues linked to retail sales and long term rentals. This will be the first of many openings we will carry out throughout 2023 and more information will be shared over the first quarter of the year.”

The new store is a reflection of Wheels’ commitment to sustainability and revolutionizing intra-urban transportation. The store will be powered by renewable energy and feature eco-friendly design elements, aligning with the company’s commitment to reducing its carbon footprint.

According to recent data, proprietary ownership of micro-mobility vehicles in North America has grown significantly in recent years, with electric scooters and bikes leading the way in popularity. Wheels is excited to contribute to this growing trend and provide convenient and eco-friendly transportation options to the residents of San Francisco.

The store will be open seven days a week and located in San Francisco’s city center. Customers are encouraged to visit the store to test ride the various vehicles and learn more about the sustainable culture of Wheels. The store will also host community events and workshops focused on electric micro-mobility and sustainability. Follow Wheels on social media for updates on store events and promotions.

About Helbiz

Helbiz is a global leader in micro-mobility services. Launched in 2015 and headquartered in New York City, the company offers a diverse fleet of vehicles including e-scooters, e-bicycles, e-mopeds all on one convenient, user-friendly platform with over 65 licenses in cities around the world. The merger with Wheels, leading player in California, adds a unique sit-down scooter along with long term rental subscriptions for individuals, businesses and universities. Helbiz uses a customized, proprietary fleet management technology, artificial intelligence and environmental mapping to optimize operations and business sustainability. Helbiz is expanding its urban lifestyle products and services to include live streaming services, food delivery and more, all accessible within its mobile app. For additional information, please visit www.helbiz.com.

About Wheels

Wheels is a last-mile, shared electric mobility platform whose seated form factor changes the landscape in dockless mobility. In addition to being seated, wheeled devices have a low center of gravity and 14-inch wheels to help navigate uneven pavement surfaces. Wheels has launched a first-of-its-kind integrated helmet system that can give riders physical access to a shareable helmet with every ride they take. Wheels is headquartered in West Hollywood, California. Learn more at www.takewheels.com.

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After living in the Bay Area for nearly seven years, Hari Raghavan and his wife decided to leave for the East Coast late last year.

They were both working remotely and wanted to leave California because of the high cost of living and urban crime. So they made a list of potential relocation cities before choosing Miami for its sunny weather and what they perceived was a better sense of safety.

Raghavan said that their Oakland house had been broken into four times and that prior to the pandemic, his wife called him every day during her seven-minute walk home from the BART station because she felt safer with someone on the phone. After moving to Miami, Raghavan said they accidentally left their garage door open one day and were floored when they returned home and found nothing had been stolen.

“We moved to the Bay Area because we had to be there if you want to work in tech and start-ups, and now that that’s no longer a tether, we took a long hard look and said, ‘Wait, why are we here again?’ ” Raghavan said.

He said there wasn’t much draw in California’s quality of life, local or social policies, or cost of living. “That forced us to question where we actually wanted to live,” he said.

An acceleration of people leaving coastal California began during the first year of the pandemic. But new data show it continued even after lockdowns and other COVID restrictions eased.

California ranks second in the country for outbound moves — a phenomenon that has snowballed during the pandemic, according to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, which tracked data from moving company United Van Lines. Between 2018 and 2019, California had an outbound move rate of 56%. That rate rose to nearly 60% in 2020-21.

Citing changes in work-life balance, opportunities for remote work and more people deciding to quit their jobs, the report found that droves of Californians are leaving for states like Texas, Virginia, Washington and Florida. California lost more than 352,000 residents between April 2020 and January 2022, according to California Department of Finance statistics.

San Francisco and Los Angeles rank first and second in the country, respectively, for outbound moves as the cost of living and housing prices continue to balloon and homeowners flee to less expensive cities, according to a report from Redfin released this month.

Angelenos, in particular, are flocking to places like Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Diego, San Antonio and Dallas. The number of Los Angeles residents leaving the city jumped from around 33,000 in the second quarter of 2021 to nearly 41,000 in the same span of 2022, according to the report.

California has grappled with extremely high housing prices compared with other states, according to USC economics professor Matthew Kahn. Combined with the pandemic and the rise in remote work, privileged households relocated when they had the opportunity.

“People want to live here, but an unintended consequence of the state’s environmentalism is we’re not building enough housing in desirable downtown areas,” Kahn said. “That prices out middle-class people to the suburbs [and creates] long commutes. We don’t have road pricing to help the traffic congestion, and these headaches add up. So when you create the possibility of work from home, many of these people … they say ‘enough’ and they move to a cheaper metropolitan area .”

Kahn also pointed out that urban crime, a growing unhoused population, public school quality and overall quality of life are driving out residents.

“In New York City, but also in San Francisco, there are all these fights about which kids get into which elite public schools,” he said. “The rich are always able to hide in their bubble, but if the middle class looks at this quality of life declining, that’s a push factor to leave.”

Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather cited a June report that tracked the change in spending power of a homebuyer on a $2,500 monthly budget. While 11.2% of homes in Los Angeles were affordable on that budget, using a 3% interest rate, that amount swelled to about 72% in Houston and about 50% in Phoenix.

“It’s really an affordability problem,” Fairweather said. “California for the longest time has prioritized single-family zoning, which makes it so people stay in their homes longer because their property taxes don’t reflect the true value. California is the epicenter of where the housing shortage is so people have no choice but to move elsewhere.”

While California experienced a major population boom in the late 20th century — reaching 37 million people by 2000 — it’s been losing residents since, with new growth lagging behind the rest of the country, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. The state’s population increased by 5.8% from 2010 to 2020, below the national growth rate of 6.8%, and resulting in the loss of a congressional seat in 2021 for the first time in the state’s history.

Although California has relied on immigration to offset its population decline for the past two decades, that flow has also shrunk, according to UCLA economics professor Lee Ohanian.

Delays in processing migration requests to the US were compounded during the pandemic, resulting in the lowest levels of immigration in decades, according to US Census Bureau data.

Estimates showed a net increase of 244,000 new immigrants between 2020 and 2021 — roughly half the 477,000 new immigrant residents recorded between 2019 and 2020 and a drastic reduction from more than 1 million reported from 2015 to 2016.

The state is also seeing a dwindling middle class, said Ohanian, who cited a report from the National Assn. of Realtors, outlining that the national median home sales price has reached $416,000, a record high. Meanwhile, California’s median home price has topped $800,000.

“[California is] at a risk for becoming a state for very, very wealthy people and very, very low earners who receive state and local and federal aid that allows them to be able to live here,” Ohanian said. “We should worry about those in the middle who are earning that $78,000 household median income and is, at the end of the day, really struggling, especially if they have interest in buying a home.”

Los Angeles County, in particular, has suffered from slowed population growth, as have rural parts of the state, while Orange County, Sacramento and some parts of the Bay Area have managed to see some gains, the Public Policy Institute of California found.

Fairweather said that since she last lived in Los Angeles in 2016, she’s noticed fewer affordable places to rent.

“It used to be that Santa Monica and Beverly Hills were expensive, but you could find affordable housing on the Eastside,” she said. “But that got expensive and you had to find housing near South Central. Now, there’s nowhere within a two-hour commute of downtown Los Angeles that’s still affordable.”

Bay Area native Kenny Phung, who made the exodus from California last fall when his partner got into nursing school in Portland, Ore., said high rent prices helped cement the decision to move out of state. Phung was living with three roommates in Los Angeles for $3,600 total per month but found a two-bedroom apartment for less than half that price in Portland. He’s currently working as a project manager at a San Jose-based company that allows him to work remotely.

“It just didn’t make sense,” Phung said. “Why would I want to live in California when I’m working from home and paying something outrageous for such a small space when I can try things out and be able to save money on rent?”

Housing was also a major factor in Raghavan’s decision to leave the Golden State, he said, adding that downtown Miami has multiple skyscrapers, more affordable housing, well-paved roads and better infrastructure and services.

“The Bay Area has become a land of minor inconveniences, and some are not-so-minor anymore,” he said. “Housing and real estate have ripples across everything. It makes rent more expensive for restaurants, which raises food prices, and it causes people to commute over longer distances. Everything becomes a burden.”

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After a period of stability, San Francisco’s COVID-19 hospitalization numbers are starting to increase as the omicron variant continues to spread in the city.

The weekslong spike in cases prompted a tightening of the city’s indoor mask mandate and proof-of-vaccination laws as well as the cancellation of the city’s New Year’s Eve fireworks show.

Even though hospitalizations are also trending upward, one prominent expert says the trend of case and hospitalization “decoupling” is continuing. UCSF’s Dr. Bob Wachter estimated last week that if this wave were like other waves, the city should have at least twice as many hospitalizations as it does given the case increases recorded in prior weeks. He said Monday nothing changes that assessment.

“For this number of cases, I would expect to see far higher hospitalizations if this was as virulent as prior variants,” he wrote in an email to SFGATE.

In mid-December, San Francisco posted new daily case totals that exceeded numbers from the summer delta variant-driven wave and last winter’s wave. However, two weeks later, the city’s hospitalization numbers are still a fraction of what they were during the previous two waves. UCSF’s Dr. George Rutherford told SFGATE that in the past, hospitalizations have tended to increase 10 days after cases started to increase.

COVID-19 vaccines are highly protective against severe disease, and 81% of San Francisco’s total population is fully vaccinated. In South Africa — where the variant was first detected — officials estimated that 1.7% of confirmed cases required hospitalization, which is down from a 19% confirmed-case-to-hospitalization rate seen with the delta variant in the country.

Health experts say that when reading reports on rising hospitalizations, another important caveat to keep in mind is the distinction between COVID-19 patients hospitalized “with” COVID-19 vs. “for” COVID-19. Wachter said that San Francisco’s hospitals are not reporting whether patients are in the hospital primarily because of the disease or if they were hospitalized for another reason but were tested and found to have COVID-19.

“During prior surges, ‘incidental covid’ was a non-issue – if there were 60 covid patients in the hospital, maybe 1-2 might have been people with no covid symptoms who we picked up from testing,” Wachter wrote in an email . “Now it’s a bigger issue, but still, at 8% asymptomatic test positivity rate, still represents a small minority of all of our admissions.”

In other locations, the percentage of patients hospitalized “with” COVID-19, rather than “for,” was much higher. The Florida-based Jackson Health Center reported that 57% of COVID-19-positive patients were “admitted to the hospital primarily for non-COVID reasons” while a study of hospital admissions from a city in South Africa found that 62% of patients had “incidental COVID-19.”

Top federal adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci has also stated that reporting “incidental COVID-19” is a growing problem because of the omicron variant’s ability to cause more asymptomatic infections than past strains.

“If you look at the children are hospitalized many of them are hospitalized with COVID as opposed to because of COVID,” Fauci said when addressing reports of increased pediatric hospitalization. “What we mean by that is that if a child goes in the hospital they automatically get tested for COVID and they get counted as a COVID hospitalized individual, when in fact they may go in for a broken leg or appendicitis or something like that. So it’s over-counting the number of children who are ‘hospitalized’ with COVID as opposed to because of COVID.”

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After living in the Bay Area for nearly seven years, Hari Raghavan and his wife decided to leave for the East Coast late last year.

They were both working remotely and wanted to leave California because of the high cost of living and urban crime. So they made a list of potential relocation cities before choosing Miami for its sunny weather and what they perceived was a better sense of safety.

Raghavan said that their Oakland house had been broken into four times and that prior to the pandemic, his wife called him every day during her seven-minute walk home from the BART station because she felt safer with someone on the phone. After moving to Miami, Raghavan said they accidentally left their garage door open one day and were floored when they returned home and found nothing had been stolen.

“We moved to the Bay Area because we had to be there if you want to work in tech and start-ups, and now that that’s no longer a tether, we took a long hard look and said, ‘Wait, why are we here again?’ ” Raghavan said.

He said there wasn’t much draw in California’s quality of life, local or social policies, or cost of living. “That forced us to question where we actually wanted to live,” he said.

An acceleration of people leaving coastal California began during the first year of the pandemic. But new data show it continued even after lockdowns and other COVID restrictions eased.

California ranks second in the country for outbound moves — a phenomenon that has snowballed during the pandemic, according to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, which tracked data from moving company United Van Lines. Between 2018 and 2019, California had an outbound move rate of 56%. That rate rose to nearly 60% in 2020-21.

Citing changes in work-life balance, opportunities for remote work and more people deciding to quit their jobs, the report found that droves of Californians are leaving for states like Texas, Virginia, Washington and Florida. California lost more than 352,000 residents between April 2020 and January 2022, according to California Department of Finance statistics.

San Francisco and Los Angeles rank first and second in the country, respectively, for outbound moves as the cost of living and housing prices continue to balloon and homeowners flee to less expensive cities, according to a report from Redfin released this month.

Angelenos, in particular, are flocking to places like Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Diego, San Antonio and Dallas. The number of Los Angeles residents leaving the city jumped from around 33,000 in the second quarter of 2021 to nearly 41,000 in the same span of 2022, according to the report.

California has grappled with extremely high housing prices compared with other states, according to USC economics professor Matthew Kahn. Combined with the pandemic and the rise in remote work, privileged households relocated when they had the opportunity.

“People want to live here, but an unintended consequence of the state’s environmentalism is we’re not building enough housing in desirable downtown areas,” Kahn said. “That prices out middle-class people to the suburbs [and creates] long commutes. We don’t have road pricing to help the traffic congestion, and these headaches add up. So when you create the possibility of work from home, many of these people … they say ‘enough’ and they move to a cheaper metropolitan area .”

Kahn also pointed out that urban crime, a growing unhoused population, public school quality and overall quality of life are driving out residents.

“In New York City, but also in San Francisco, there are all these fights about which kids get into which elite public schools,” he said. “The rich are always able to hide in their bubble, but if the middle class looks at this quality of life declining, that’s a push factor to leave.”

Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather cited a June report that tracked the change in spending power of a homebuyer on a $2,500 monthly budget. While 11.2% of homes in Los Angeles were affordable on that budget, using a 3% interest rate, that amount swelled to about 72% in Houston and about 50% in Phoenix.

“It’s really an affordability problem,” Fairweather said. “California for the longest time has prioritized single-family zoning, which makes it so people stay in their homes longer because their property taxes don’t reflect the true value. California is the epicenter of where the housing shortage is so people have no choice but to move elsewhere.”

While California experienced a major population boom in the late 20th century — reaching 37 million people by 2000 — it’s been losing residents since, with new growth lagging behind the rest of the country, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. The state’s population increased by 5.8% from 2010 to 2020, below the national growth rate of 6.8%, and resulting in the loss of a congressional seat in 2021 for the first time in the state’s history.

Although California has relied on immigration to offset its population decline for the past two decades, that flow has also shrunk, according to UCLA economics professor Lee Ohanian.

Delays in processing migration requests to the US were compounded during the pandemic, resulting in the lowest levels of immigration in decades, according to US Census Bureau data.

Estimates showed a net increase of 244,000 new immigrants between 2020 and 2021 — roughly half the 477,000 new immigrant residents recorded between 2019 and 2020 and a drastic reduction from more than 1 million reported from 2015 to 2016.

The state is also seeing a dwindling middle class, said Ohanian, who cited a report from the National Assn. of Realtors, outlining that the national median home sales price has reached $416,000, a record high. Meanwhile, California’s median home price has topped $800,000.

“[California is] at a risk for becoming a state for very, very wealthy people and very, very low earners who receive state and local and federal aid that allows them to be able to live here,” Ohanian said. “We should worry about those in the middle who are earning that $78,000 household median income and is, at the end of the day, really struggling, especially if they have interest in buying a home.”

Los Angeles County, in particular, has suffered from slowed population growth, as have rural parts of the state, while Orange County, Sacramento and some parts of the Bay Area have managed to see some gains, the Public Policy Institute of California found.

Fairweather said that since she last lived in Los Angeles in 2016, she’s noticed fewer affordable places to rent.

“It used to be that Santa Monica and Beverly Hills were expensive, but you could find affordable housing on the Eastside,” she said. “But that got expensive and you had to find housing near South Central. Now, there’s nowhere within a two-hour commute of downtown Los Angeles that’s still affordable.”

Bay Area native Kenny Phung, who made the exodus from California last fall when his partner got into nursing school in Portland, Ore., said high rent prices helped cement the decision to move out of state. Phung was living with three roommates in Los Angeles for $3,600 total per month but found a two-bedroom apartment for less than half that price in Portland. He’s currently working as a project manager at a San Jose-based company that allows him to work remotely.

“It just didn’t make sense,” Phung said. “Why would I want to live in California when I’m working from home and paying something outrageous for such a small space when I can try things out and be able to save money on rent?”

Housing was also a major factor in Raghavan’s decision to leave the Golden State, he said, adding that downtown Miami has multiple skyscrapers, more affordable housing, well-paved roads and better infrastructure and services.

“The Bay Area has become a land of minor inconveniences, and some are not-so-minor anymore,” he said. “Housing and real estate have ripples across everything. It makes rent more expensive for restaurants, which raises food prices, and it causes people to commute over longer distances. Everything becomes a burden.”

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