Californians Who Move To Other States Not So Welcome

I remember that Oregon cities were overwhelmed with Californians moving north in the 1980s. They drove up housing prices in the Portland metro region, and the transplants were considered to be too smug and blase and… lucky. In junior and senior high school, no one liked the posh and cliquey students from California. They were trendy jerks who looked down on us podunk Oregonians.

By the 2000s, they were the least of our worries, because now we were getting mostly transplants from the East Coast and Midwest. They didn’t have a bunch of money and high expectations like the Californians did though. Their numbers were so high, however, that population pressure still caused housing prices to soar.

Meanwhile, California itself has the worst housing crisis ever now, and massive wildfires aren’t helping. People there can sell even their modest homes for outrageous prices that allow them to buy McMansions in other states.

Like Idaho.

Portland & Seattle remain very popular places to move, but it’s expensive now. REALLY expensive. We’re having rich people from other nations buying houses in these cities now. Boise, Idaho, in contrast, is ripe for the picking.

And Californians are picking it. Resentment is rising against them.

Great article on this:
www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-11-10/go-back-to-california-wave-of-newcomers-fuels-backlash-in-boise

I’ve heard from a friend about a formerly rather ignored region of the Midwest getting overrun by Californians, who are buying houses up in the hills, while the longtime residents can only afford housing in the flood-zones. More climate change refugees, but with money, are putting pressure on those who are trying to adapt to issues but don’t have the same access to resources.

I believe this puts more pressure on regional social relations, especially between “natives” and those who are considered “invaders” but who feel like conquerors because they come in and take over. What sort of backlash can we expect over the coming years? Maybe not much, but when things get truly desperate…? It’s worth keeping an eye on.