Humboldt is a good few years into the “bust” phase of the boom and bust economic cycle. This most recent incarnation being cannabis, previously it was logging, and the original ones were gold mining and fur trapping.
Naturally this has caused a lot of people who were here for that reason to leave, but to say that “Humboldt is dying” is hyperbolic, and that kind of language is best left to reactionaries. There are social issues and poverty, but that isn’t “death”
It does seem like with the pandemic and the remote work opportunities, a lot of LA and Bay Area people have moved up this way and settled around Eureka and Arcata, but some of the more far flung rural parts of the county like where I live are still having more people moving away.
I think as far as population goes, and the health of the community, it’s quality over quantity. A smaller amount of civil minded, community oriented people interested in building families is definitely better than a larger number of self-absorbed, money-oriented younger flighty people like the one’s moving away after the cannabis industry collapsed.
True, but it might change. There's big plans for this area in terms of the medical industry, with Humboldt State University becoming a CalPoly school (and funding to boot), including state of the art laboratories and nursing programs. With that happening and some of the development plans, it's possible more specialists will be retained for longer. We'll see.
Doubt it. There’s nothing in the area that’ll attract professionals and entice them to stay. One reason we have no next to no doctors is because there’s nothing for them and their partners to do during their free time. Humboldt county is boring if you’re not into hiking and nature.
Plus just because someone goes to school somewhere doesn’t mean they’ll stay wherever their school is. A majority of college and university graduates do not settle down where their alma maters are. They typically graduate and move somewhere else
I agree with most of this but right now I live somewhere that’s mostly self absorbed, money-obsessed retirees and having a surfeit of *them* is definitely bad for a town. Ultimately a mix of types - NOT all young families (they have no money), NOT all professionals (town is too small to support that), NOT all retirees (they don’t spend any of their money, if they have it, and they resist change).
I hope the people who are concerned about this go to local meetings and keep their finger on the pulse 💚💚
Nicely said and totally agree. People migrate as the economy does the thing it does and generations age and are born. I am a WFH, semi-retired 20 year resident who raised my family here. I think about moving, but honestly I can't image where I would rather be.
Good post but didn’t mention the price of real estate becoming unaffordable. I could buy a house here , but it would be a moldy 2 bedroom crime scene. When I can retire in a 3000sft mansion in the Midwest. Longest I’ve ever lived anywhere it’s a great place to live if you are healthy and have the means to support it. I will miss living here, longest I’ve ever lived anywhere.
Redway and Garberville are. For obvious reasons. Arcata and Eureka are not. The landlords and AirBNB owners are doing their best to make it untenable, but there’s still more people trying to come here because the rest of the state either costs more or is far less enjoyable to live. We have an endless stream of equity refugees, fire refugees and work from homers competing for a tiny housing supply. Eventually folks will have to look at the outer county areas again.
Thanks for your response! I can see what you’re saying about the people who move there and don’t support the local economy or people just renting out their places for Airbnb. That was a frustrating realty for garberville as well - I saw a lot of airbnbs going up there when I was leaving. Local shops being forced to close down as well. It’s just sad
The county is working on a STR ordinance. I wrote them suggesting they ban all AirBNB’s on unoccupied homes on parcels with one residence. Require 50% full time occupancy on parcels with two or more residencies. Unfortunately it’s mostly Airbnb owners weighing in. Arcata, Eureka need to adopt the same policy in my opinion. Other than the farmers market and eureka Friday market, it’s safe to infer the newer crowd does not shop locally.
Airbnbs would actually be good for sohum to bring tourists to the area to spend money in the local economy. The economy down there was solely based on weed and that is basically gone
I don’t really like the idea of air bnbs in general and I think it’s sad when they take over. I see a lot of people hating on them not just here but in other places too
Maybe if people were building new guest houses on their acres of property and listing those but there is not even enough to house local residents.
Plus there’s already cabins and hotels for people visiting. there are some cool listings up there that don’t take away housing though. I know of one that’s a treehouse in someone’s backyard and it’s beautiful!
But there are people who work in town and have lived there their entire lives who are stuck in rvs or hotel rooms because they can’t find proper housing. In that case I think it’s really disheartening to see air bnbs pop up when it’s like, oh. I could really use a place. I lived in a 8x9 shed with no toilet or shower for two years while holding a job because I couldn’t find anything to rent. Meanwhile houses are being renovated for Airbnbs..
That said - when I moved away there were a lot more options for rentals since people were starting to leave so maybe it’s better suited to it these days.
This post is specifically about southern humboldt, in the post they say people are moving and there are a lot of rental vancancies. In these more rural places airbnbs would be beneficial…. In the middle of Arcata or eureka, no, there is a housing shortage for locals
Sorry I’m a little confused I guess- you’re saying airbnbs are good for sohum right? Sohum being garberville/Redway area? Because that’s where I was talking about. Unless I’m dumb and you mean airbnbs in eureka and arcata are good. I have no opinion on that
Folks that sell their homes in say LA area or Bay Area, move here, pay cash for a home, scoop a new awd vehicle, and buy everything they need from Amazon, chewie, and the food service boxes. (The third part is sort of a joke). Mostly means cash in on all the equity from expensive areas of California then relocate here with the profits. Buy a house for cash and a new car is pretty accurate.
We can infer that at least a large portion don’t shop locally. Homes have never been more expensive or hard to find. Stores can’t stay open. Mall is empty. Restaurants always come and go. Have a friend that drives a FedEx truck. He said most of their business is Chewie dot com or the meal prep boxes. They don’t do Amazon. Would need to ask a UPS driver about that. Of course many long term residents also use those services. Which is why I said that part is more of a joke. But shopping local “used to be” a point of pride for this area.
Chewie is a pet supplier, they sell things like dog food. My neighbor gets packages from them pretty frequently, even though we're not allowed to have pets here 🤔
Your neighbor gets their dog authorized as an emotional support animal. Suddenly the landlord is required by state law to allow the animal. (I'm not talking about a service animal... different law.) Even the university dorms have pets now.
I've never *seen* it though. I think it's more likely a cat tbh. Not that a cat couldn't be an ESA but I don't think that's the case here. They're probably just hiding it.
Imagine keeping a cat in a dorm room.
There was a guy in my dorm who kept a turtle in a fish bowl filled with water -- and nothing else. It took weeks for everyone to convince him he was torturing his water-breathing turtle as it swam continuously to stay afloat. He OD'd before winter break. Dunno what happened to the turtle.
My point is, people are stupid. Your neighbor could be keeping the dog inside all of the time. Some people should not own pets.
I agree that the ESA law needs to be revised in some manner to weed out fakers who just want to get around pet policies. Or make allowing pets mandatory for landlords, but allow a substantial pet deposit for cleaning and carpet replacement.
I get a lot of deliveries from chewy because my pet has a medical condition and needs medication and prescription food that isn’t possible to get at local store
Big box stores are closing across CA. Target just closed tons of locations including one in a dense part of Oakland walking distance from thousands of people. CVS and Walgreens shuttering as well. We are moving to Humboldt soon from here and would be happy to support local businesses for the type of products from these spots but in my experience in Oakland Amazon is a replacement for other big box stores not local businesses. The local businesses either shuttered or don’t carry the products I’m looking for (like for my cat who was a stray in a parking lot and now needs stupid expensive prescription food).
It’s not right or wrong, but there are both pros and cons.
Equity refugees tend to lead to areas being gentrified and/or areas rising in col, but wages stay stagnate due to very little money actually going into the local economy.
Plus a majority of equity refugees typically do not invest in the community they move to. Some great examples are Thailand and the communities of British retirees found there and Mexico and the communities of American retirees found there. Both places have relatively large communities of retired people who cashed in on their equity and moved to the lower col countries like Thailand and Mexico. However, neither Thailand or Mexico experience much GDP or economic growth from these retirees. Plus most still pay UK/US taxes and typically avoid paying taxes to the host country.
Oh. Good post. I get it. Thank you. So if I retire to Humboldt County I need to create some jobs to balance things out. That and obviously respect local environmental values of course. Right? We are likely to be somewhat political refugees from Austin Texas driven to move by MAGA infestation. Thx in advance!
I kind of disagree here. My wife and I are in the process of relocating right now, our house closes next week. If we weren't able to find housing within a 30-minute drive of Eureka/Arcata we wouldn't have made the move.
Yes maybe without realizing it? “Eventually” means in the future. “Outer county” refers to anything south of Fortuna, north of McKinleyville and east of the 101. Carlotta, Rio Dell, Stafford, Korbel, Maple Creek, all within about 30 minutes of Arcata or Eureka.
Gotcha. Time will tell. I meant pretty much all the unincorporated areas which includes Fortuna, Carlotta, Rio Dell (even tho it is a city), Stafford, and south. Garberville is not super attractive right now. But it might be if the other areas of Ca continue to get more and more expensive, more fire prone, and property crimes increase.
A thirty minute radius is a large region. You will soon learn about living on "Humboldt time" and loathe your 30 minute drive to "the city", an hour round-trip. It's not like a 30 minute commute in a metropolitan area.
I’m told that currently SoHum is one of the areas in the country with the most foreclosures so expect a continued decline.
The Humboldt Bay Area is set to see an increase if CalPoly hits their enrollment figures, when the fish farm gets going, when the wind farm gets going and when they start exploiting that huge internet pipe that was stretched from Asia.
In ten years this area could see some real and vibrant growth.
They missed their enrollment prediction by thousands. They expected 2000 more, they got 98 more than average. The apartments in Arcata that I live in have lowered the rent price and there’s still multiple empty places. They just cannot fill. They inflated the rents over and over the past 4 years and it’s now biting them in the ass. Once they have that large new housing development there’s going to be more housing availability in the Humboldt Bay Area. They’re capping the STRs too. The students just aren’t coming. This area is just not very attractive to young adults with many great choices of colleges and areas to live in. It’s too rural and so far from any major city and it’s not prestigious. Maybe there will be growth off the other things going on but I don’t think it’s gonna be because of the college.
Calpoly is definitely not making their enrollment prediction. I doubt Calpoly will be open in 10 years. The way they’re spending money and making dumb admin decisions is gonna bury them in debt and fines. They already have multiple students suing for ADA violations and housing violations.
I have concerns about the downtown community in Arcata (beside the homeless issue)- the hippies who started all these great creative traditions are passing on or moving away and selling their houses for minimum $750,000 which prices most locals out. Or renting their homes to students. Which doesn’t probably create community invested residents. And they need leadership with experience within city management. I love the quirky town but could see it becoming like any other coastal Cali town with boutiques run by rich people with money to burn for tourists if we keep pricing all the locals out. I’m sorry but who has the $$$$ for the vitamin and Ketamine treatment that opened there (and the money to open them) which are the newest Arcata businesses. And how do they encourage foot traffic? And so many realty offices there too. And allowing 10 dispensary licenses for a town that size was stupid too.
I wouldn't so much say dying as it's more accurate to say being killed by Corporate Slumlords, NIMBY's and corrupt Government Officials that refuse to do anything that'll actually help the area.
That's not to say more people are leaving than coming, I'd say it's still the opposite. But it's getting harder for people who grew up in Humboldt Bay to stick around as costs continue to rise unchecked and services continue to stagnate or worsen.
Even up through Nov 2019 when I left for a Job in another State (been back since Feb) the CoL was damn reasonable, like $550-650/mo for an Apt (Studio/sm 1BDRM) kind of reasonable. Vehicle fuel has always been high but Food wasn't nearly as bad as it is now, price wise. What happened is Corporations used Covid as an excuse to raise prices and just conveniently forgot to lower them back down. Since no Gubments stood in their way, they're just tickled pink to be experiencing the highest profits in their history in the past 1-3 years.
Landlords have raised rents in the area on 100’s of properties by the maximum 25% over the last three years. High inflation in the state following covid allowed them to raise by 10% instead of the normal year 5% max, and many took advantage. Truly abhorrent people.
I wouldn't say it's dying so much as it's becoming gentrified. Everything is so expensive, housing is ridiculous. The type of people who used to live here can't afford it anymore and are being replaced with LA and Bay Area transplants.
I’ve been seeing a lot of Bay Area and LA people who moved up during Covid actually moving out. Look on any housing website and you’ll see houses bought in 2020’s being put on the market again.
People don’t realize how little attraction there is for ppl to stay in Humboldt. The medical scene is near non-existent, cost of living is not worth what you get for it, and employers severely underpay everyone. Also there’s not much entertainment that would attract city folk.
They will as places like Arizona become even hotter hellscapes than they are.
We are just now seeing the pain, and it only gets worse from here on out.
I did.
I moved up here initially for school in 2013 and moved away in 2019. Went back to my home town in the foothills and my wife and I started our family. I thought we would live there for a while since my parents were so close and that made child care easy.
Then when my daughter was 5 weeks old we had to evacuate because of fire. When my daughter was 6 months old a heavy snowstorm knocked out power for two weeks. The trees had been so damaged by drought that they could no longer withstand a snowstorm and hundreds of trees were brought down.
We specifically chose this area because it feels at least somewhat insulated from the worst of the effects of climate change.
That was my bad. I got confused. They didn’t reach their enrollment goal.
https://m.northcoastjournal.com/NewsBlog/archives/2023/09/12/cal-poly-humboldt-admin-optimistic-despite-not-meeting-enrollment-projections
There is a housing shortage in the Humboldt Bay area... attributed to the university expanding enrollment, but that's only a plan. The students aren't here yet, and the university has dorm vacancies.
People from outside the area are moving here in significant numbers. California's population growth that Sacramento has warned Humboldt County about for decades, and given the county mandates to accommodate, has finally arrived. It's why Eureka is turning parking lots into apartment complexes.
Meanwhile, the university has 5+ housing projects under development because it thinks it can nearly double in size in a short amount of time. It's not going to happen, but that's their plan.
Just watch. The university dorm buildings being built will end up being sold to a private landlord because Calpoly keeps not meeting their enrollment goal. Cracks me up how they thought becoming a Calpoly would boost student enrollment lmao
>California must plan for more than 2.5 million homes over the next eight-year cycle, and no less than one million of those homes must meet the needs of lower-income households. This represents more than double the housing planned for in the last eight-year cycle. [Source](https://statewide-housing-plan-cahcd.hub.arcgis.com/)
* [2022 Statewide Housing Plan](https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/94729ab1648d43b1811c1698a748c136)
* [What Happens To Cities That Defy California’s Housing Mandates?](https://voiceofoc.org/2023/03/what-happens-to-cities-that-defy-californias-housing-mandates/)
* [Regional Housing Needs Allocation](https://www.hcd.ca.gov/planning-and-community-development/regional-housing-needs-allocation)
* [Housing Element Implementation and Data Dashboard](https://www.hcd.ca.gov/planning-and-community-development/housing-open-data-tools/housing-element-implementation-and-apr-dashboard) -- If you dig, this has housing data for each local city.
* [2019 Housing Element -- Humboldt County](https://humboldtgov.org/2448/2019-Housing-Element)
This is by no means an authoritative set of links. I know only generalized information. I just googled these links.
Send any further replies to me privately. I stopped using this sub because of the mod team.
I left humboldt this year to explore my career, I wasn't fond of what I left mostly because prices are way too high and cal poly makes it impossible to be a local here. But I plan on moving back in a couple years, hopefully it will be better than when I left. I feel like CPH is quite literally driving humboldt into the ground.
As someone else said, we are in a transitional stage of a cycle, related to the cannabis industry legalization. When cannabis was illegal, it sold for $4,000-$6,000 a pound due to the risk and secrecy involved in production and distribution. This created scarcity because getting caught was such a huge risk. For those willing to take the risk, it was extremely profitable because it grows like a weed here. I mean, it's called, "weed." The black market supported the economy in multiple ways. Many businesses existed only to launder weed money, and prices were high because people working in the weed industry had affluent amounts of cash to spend. People who processed the raw plant into sellable bud/trim could make around $200 an hour, and so during harvest season we had people coming from all over the world to work here, aka "trimmigrants." Because we don't have regular seasons, I believe there were two or three major harvests a year for outdoor grows and indoor grows could be produced constantly based on the plant's life cycles.
Since legalization eliminated the risk and secrecy, it also eliminated the scarcity and introduced a bunch of extra costs such as permitting, licensing, and taxes. Suddenly, under the table/unlicensed farms had to compete with legal farms, and the price no longer reflected the risk. All those fronts? No longer needed. Distributors/dealers? Out of a job. We officially have more dispensaries than coffee shops.
Cannabis is no longer the backbone or identity of Humboldt County.
Just like how our identity as a booming lumber economy fizzled out in the 1960s due to increased environmental restrictions and the local redwoods becoming protected within the boundaries of our massive local state parks.
When one industry dies, it may feel like the whole area is dying, and for people who live here during that transition - especially if their entire livelihood was based on that industry - it may feel like a true death, but something else usually immerges.
That's not to say an area can't go under. Look at Gary Indiana. It was a booming steel processing town in the 1950s, but for some reason, the major factories pulled out or relocated and the local economy was devastated. With so many households suddenly unemployed, all the support businesses closed, everyone else lost their jobs, nobody could afford rent or mortgages, and everyone migrated away. Now it's a ghost town and people are advised not to stop there because it's dangerous. Houses sell for $15,000-$50,000 but nobody is buying them.
I don't think that will happen to Humboldt though. I think we have something really valuable that we haven't realized fully yet. With all this talk of work-life balance and self-care, leisure travel is going to boom soon and if we focus on that and start cleaning up our dilapidated infrastructure, we could really capitalize on that.
We have an amazing art culture.
We have an amazing food culture.
We have gorgeous views.
We have stunning beaches.
We have temperate weather all year long.
We have very low pollution.
We have ancient, giant trees that can be found in few other places in the world.
We have giant elk and lovely birds.
We have authentic Victorian, Edwardian, 1920s and other historic-era architecture.
We have the Skywalk at Sequoia Park Zoo.
And we still have a reputation as producing the "Best Pot" - with endorsements from Robin Willians, Snoop Dog, Seth MacFarlane, Chris Rock, etc etc etc.
If we could get high-speed rail (or any rail really) between here and San Francisco, people would come up here to see the Redwoods and buy Humboldt Pot and have dinner at Larrupins then head back to the city in the morning.
If we can really focus on creating a draw for vacation tourism here, that will be our next boom and our new identity.
Alternatively, with the introduction of the trans-pacific fiber optic cable, we might become a tech industry area.
I’d disagree with the food culture. Humboldt food culture is very lacking and not diverse.
Also relying on vacation tourism is the worst thing an area can do. It opens up the economy to be incredibly vulnerable to market crashes and it causes locals to be pushed out due to cost of living becoming too high.
Oh yeah, definitely lacking in diversity and for a fishing area it sure is hard to find good fish at restaurants. I just meant how many places serve simple ingredient, organic, locally sourced stuff. Like even the hotdogs at festivals are grass fed, organic, and local - and they don't just have lemonade, they have lavender infused lemonade. It's weirdly fancy.
Those are valid points and I think we're for sure seeing the area become too expensive for locals.
The whole country looks like this, I’ve been from Alaska to Texas to Florida, Georgia, drove the whole width and breadth of this country in the few years.
Humboldt is a funny beast I haven’t figured out yet
All I’ve gotta say is if you have a medical problem and you actually want good information from people you can trust, don’t go to garberville hospital, worst hospital in the world. When I sprained my knee they took some x tays and gave me a brace and crutches and the whole thing took like 4 hours. And like 5 years ago my grandpa had pneumonia and he went there and he died because they wouldn’t transfer him up to eureka because he needed something that they had up there but not in garberville… but yeah he ended up passing :( as a 17 year old that used to live in garberville until I was 7 then moved away and came back to garberville when I was like 13-14, this place is definitely DIFFERENT to how it used to be. It used to feel like such a community with all the old timers and just how small the area is so like everyone knew everyone (atleast for my family) but now it’s not like that at all. From my young perspective, I want to move out of here as soon as I possibly can, this place has almost no opportunities for finding a good career, feels like I’m trapped in that there’s nothing to do and you can’t just walk to the next town over to hang out with people, you gotta walk like 20 mins from redway to garb on the bluffs which is sketchy. And there’s also just nothing to do here anymore I feel like. There’s like thrift stores and gift shops you can go look at but other than that there’s not much activities. The theater used to be open but that closed down a while ago and is just sitting there now. I would say the reason sohum isn’t doing so well is the lack of quality healthcare. If we were able to attract all the old people that have money with a good hospital in the area I think that would bring in much more revenue. (This is just my random personal opinion, but what do I know I’m not even an adult yet)
A lot of the above mentioned projects like Cal Poly , the fiberoptic cable and the wind farm all seem really positive.
I think the Great Redwood Trail will be a huge asset.
It seem the wild swings of the weed industry are settling down and what has survived is doing well .
Everyone I know is feeling optimistic
Things look good to me.
There’s too many folks who are too ignorant to want housing , jobs, and environmental stability (they all go hand in hand here) + you’ve got alot of nepotistic corruption in city gov and damn near xenophobic levels of this paranoid saying of “oh yeah it’s great here but don’t tell anyone” anti outsider mentality that stunts its growth.
Old folks want it to be a beachside retirement community, growers and trimmers half the time wanna live like there’s no rules or laws, and families/working class blue collar folks get completely ignored/neglected so they don’t stay here. + you’ve got the college bringing in low income students who have nowhere to go but their cars then kicking them onto the streets.University has unrealistic expectations for student population growth.
Any time you have valid criticisms you get told to leave the county😂 that’s a big part of why it’s dying. everyones pissed it’s not cheap and wild like it was in 2012 instead of getting with the times and pushing for some large housing developments for local low income folks and homeless people and workers so we can at least try to save up enough to get ahead and participate in things that give you generational wealth like owning a home, etc. 7% interest rates are hard enough in an economy where if you make 20$ an hour people act like your a massive success when minimum wage would need to be 25$ an hour to have kept up with inflation.
plus anytime a business wants to come here everyone flips out, like the false fears that In and Out was gonna raise wages too high and run out local businesses (all the local burgers are still here ffs)
Canna tourism was always a pie in the sky idea, like peeps from SF Bay gonna drive 6+ hours to see a weed farm for the weekend. You can do the same thing way closer to town. Humboldt's brand name was always overblown
Humboldts brand name wasn’t overblown when the rest of the state was to be cowardly to grow illegally and all the growing was happening here because we truly were the last of the Wild West
Both Humboldt county and the southern part of Oregon west of Medford kind of suffer from the unique geography of this place. It’s always been a hard terrain to build proper highways. What we got going on here is that 101 doesn’t feel like a highway anymore and all the roads connecting it to the 5 are windy and hard traverse easily. Any town can be “interesting” if it chooses to be so. But not having that quick connectivity to a big city makes it hard to get the talent pool needed to make it thrive. The wet coastal weather doesn’t help either.
In addition to that I feel like the businesses choices they do make sometimes are really weird. In garberville a high end clothing store opened up during a time where everyone was struggling(and another expensive clothing store was shutting down too) and then were forced to close down a year later due to no business. I just don’t understand the priorities sometimes.
This is entirely off topic but they also had a town beautification project where they painted on trashcans. meanwhile there is trash and dog poop littering all the sidewalks
Business' in Garberville and Redway will soon be scant. Literally everything is closing that doesn't offer essential goods.
It's super fun living in a husk of a town where people still want to charge INSANE rental rates as if there's any real, decent paying jobs here, lol.
Southern Humboldt is absolutely dying.
I don't disagree. So many people are like "We're gonna save our town!" and there is no feasible path to do that. This situation is only going to get worse, and people here can't seem to face that.
Ironically Cal Poly took in more folks then could be housed in Arcata & now people are being told they can’t live in their vehicles on campus. As for Redway & Garbervill are concerned, the growers are moving out to places they can get properly paid for their work, or just throwing in the towel . This is a sad situation imo . I hope Humboldt County can bounce back . With the climate situation some humans are going to realize soon enough that this place is better then many other options. This is a pivotal time for our beautiful coastal county . Let’s all keep good thoughts and hold fast .
I think Humboldt is gonna get fucked by climate change. I don’t know much about the science behind climate change, but I have a feeling Humboldt isn’t this safe nature haven everyone thinks it is. Nor is the rest of the northwest. Earthquakes, increasing fires, and tsunami/flood risk will make the northwest coast as uninhabitable as anywhere else
I don't know the areas history very well besides earthquakes. Are the frequent fires in the area? The flood risk from rising sea levels is legit as well.
There’s fire risks in the areas surrounding the coast. However, this doesn’t mean ppl on the coast are safe from smoke inhalation. We’ve had a few years now where fire season has made the area’s air quality bad enough for public alerts to be issued.
That makes sense. Has the smoke pollution been from nearby fires or largely ones further away? I'm trying to understand the risk of fires moving into the area vs smoke based pollution. Neither are good but given how recently fires have wiped out entirely cities , that is of particular interest. Thanks.
One reason for people leaving is because the cost of living. Living in Humboldt is ridiculously expensive for what you get. Plus a majority of employer’s and business owners think it’s still the economy of the 1980’s, so pay their workers deflated wages while overcharging the customers.
I honestly don’t really understand people saying it’s so expensive! So is every where else. You can actually get nicer apartments in eureka for cheaper than what I’m paying in a shitty Salem Oregon neighborhood - although I do understand it has to do with what kind of jobs/ pay you can get. In Redway I had a cabin with a large private fenced yard for $750 and I worked part time min wage. I can’t think of another place in CA that is cheaper for that beautiful of a location! Definitely not worried about the cost although it’s terrible locals are being priced out
I think part of it is that houses that sold for $280K in 2020 are $400K now and a 2BR apartment that was $950 in 2018 is $1,800 now. It's not that it's similar in price to other places, it's that for this area, which is isolated and definitely has weird wage caps, the cost of living has nearly doubled while wages have only gone up a couple of dollars an hour. I was making $13.50 in 2018, and I'm making $19.75 now - having switched from working at a casino to working for an office. My exact job in Portland Oregon would pay at least $26 an hour, but I could rent a 2BR nicer than the one I currently have for $1,200 according to [apartments.com](https://apartments.com). Sure, I'd give up the gorgeous views, clean rivers to swim in, black sand beaches, and low pollution but I would gain access to a major airport. If I could get my family to agree to the move, we'd go. I'd miss it here, but it's becoming impractical.
Side note, when did you have that apartment in Redway? Not disagreeing, just curious, because I wouldn't think that's possible anymore. I mean, just look at this little place in Weot for $1,200. I've been inside this place, it's TINY. [https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/347686391005344/?ref=category\_feed&referral\_code=null&referral\_story\_type=post&tracking=browse\_serp%3A14be00dd-567f-4024-9e58-3089fb1237a2](https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/347686391005344/?ref=category_feed&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post&tracking=browse_serp%3A14be00dd-567f-4024-9e58-3089fb1237a2)
Edit: Ooooh, wait, Redway and Garberville prices are plummeting because, without the farms up in the hills, people are moving out of those areas. Got it.
Honestly those prices are true for places like Salem as well. In the last 3 years starter houses went from $250k to 350k in, with many a lot higher and no significant raise in wages. We were considering buying a house here just a year ago and now can't.
Portland is a whole other beast that I know nothing about but I have noticed that apartments tend to be cheaper there for some reason. I'm not sure if they're in really bad neighborhoods or what.
I will say, living in Salem its crazy how much I have access to within 20 minutes - so I don't disagree that cost of living is high for Humboldt especially with the jobs available at the moment. I think that's one of hardest things- lack of job opportunities and I guess pay which I didn't consider. I would've had my boyfriend move to Humboldt instead of moving here if he could actually find somewhere to work in his field(tech).
But like you said, you would be missing out on so much nature. Being next to a major airport would mean absolutely nothing to me while being next to the redwoods and ocean would be worth an increase in cost in my opinion. For me, there wouldn't be one though. From what I'm seeing on craigslist I could have a 2 or 3bdrom House with a yard for $1600 to $1700 in both eureka and Garberville... I'm paying $1500 for a duplex, with a shared unfenced yard that's just as big if not smaller than the one you linked with no washer or dryer in unit. Its also old and has poor insulation, 2 prong outlets everywhere, previously had roaches, and was super dirty when we moved in. There are cheaper rentals here I'll admit but one of my restrictions is the fact I have 4 pets so that limits me.
I lived in Redway less than a year ago! I moved in the middle of may. My cabin was probably about the size of the one you linked but it was surrounded by a privacy fence. It was also dirty and old with poor insulation and rats. and my landlord didn't like to fix anything but it had massive windows, a huge yard, garden, and two covered porches. It was never listed online and I got it from word of mouth and essentially begged for it because at the time I was desperate. I think after I left she fixed the floors and relisted it at $850
It’s because the average wages in the area are far below the cost of living. Yes, Humboldt is relatively cheaper than the rest of Ca, but it also has one of the highest poverty rates and lowest median income in CA.
If the average worker is making $15.50/Hr in Humboldt they will not be able to afford to live in Humboldt. A lot of ppl only make $15.50 in Humboldt.
There is a new wind project literally on the horizon. A fish farm on the Bay amidst a gem of a wildlife refuge is in full swing development (what will those fish eat btw and how much? Not a fan of this ) . There was also a data center planned with undersea cables from Asia landing somewhere along Samoa. haven't heard much about that recently though Fire victims have relocated here. Traffic up so much the air quality was Poor because of nitrogen. Add it all up we conclude that............
Humboldt is a good few years into the “bust” phase of the boom and bust economic cycle. This most recent incarnation being cannabis, previously it was logging, and the original ones were gold mining and fur trapping. Naturally this has caused a lot of people who were here for that reason to leave, but to say that “Humboldt is dying” is hyperbolic, and that kind of language is best left to reactionaries. There are social issues and poverty, but that isn’t “death” It does seem like with the pandemic and the remote work opportunities, a lot of LA and Bay Area people have moved up this way and settled around Eureka and Arcata, but some of the more far flung rural parts of the county like where I live are still having more people moving away. I think as far as population goes, and the health of the community, it’s quality over quantity. A smaller amount of civil minded, community oriented people interested in building families is definitely better than a larger number of self-absorbed, money-oriented younger flighty people like the one’s moving away after the cannabis industry collapsed.
Humboldt can’t attract and keep medical specialists and that has a significant impact on livability.
True, but it might change. There's big plans for this area in terms of the medical industry, with Humboldt State University becoming a CalPoly school (and funding to boot), including state of the art laboratories and nursing programs. With that happening and some of the development plans, it's possible more specialists will be retained for longer. We'll see.
Doubt it. There’s nothing in the area that’ll attract professionals and entice them to stay. One reason we have no next to no doctors is because there’s nothing for them and their partners to do during their free time. Humboldt county is boring if you’re not into hiking and nature. Plus just because someone goes to school somewhere doesn’t mean they’ll stay wherever their school is. A majority of college and university graduates do not settle down where their alma maters are. They typically graduate and move somewhere else
That falls into the “social issues” I mentioned
I agree with most of this but right now I live somewhere that’s mostly self absorbed, money-obsessed retirees and having a surfeit of *them* is definitely bad for a town. Ultimately a mix of types - NOT all young families (they have no money), NOT all professionals (town is too small to support that), NOT all retirees (they don’t spend any of their money, if they have it, and they resist change). I hope the people who are concerned about this go to local meetings and keep their finger on the pulse 💚💚
Nicely said and totally agree. People migrate as the economy does the thing it does and generations age and are born. I am a WFH, semi-retired 20 year resident who raised my family here. I think about moving, but honestly I can't image where I would rather be.
Good post but didn’t mention the price of real estate becoming unaffordable. I could buy a house here , but it would be a moldy 2 bedroom crime scene. When I can retire in a 3000sft mansion in the Midwest. Longest I’ve ever lived anywhere it’s a great place to live if you are healthy and have the means to support it. I will miss living here, longest I’ve ever lived anywhere.
This is a great comment - you’re right saying it’s dead is a bit over dramatic. And I definitely agree with quality of quantity! :) thank you
Redway and Garberville are. For obvious reasons. Arcata and Eureka are not. The landlords and AirBNB owners are doing their best to make it untenable, but there’s still more people trying to come here because the rest of the state either costs more or is far less enjoyable to live. We have an endless stream of equity refugees, fire refugees and work from homers competing for a tiny housing supply. Eventually folks will have to look at the outer county areas again.
Thanks for your response! I can see what you’re saying about the people who move there and don’t support the local economy or people just renting out their places for Airbnb. That was a frustrating realty for garberville as well - I saw a lot of airbnbs going up there when I was leaving. Local shops being forced to close down as well. It’s just sad
The county is working on a STR ordinance. I wrote them suggesting they ban all AirBNB’s on unoccupied homes on parcels with one residence. Require 50% full time occupancy on parcels with two or more residencies. Unfortunately it’s mostly Airbnb owners weighing in. Arcata, Eureka need to adopt the same policy in my opinion. Other than the farmers market and eureka Friday market, it’s safe to infer the newer crowd does not shop locally.
Airbnbs would actually be good for sohum to bring tourists to the area to spend money in the local economy. The economy down there was solely based on weed and that is basically gone
I don’t really like the idea of air bnbs in general and I think it’s sad when they take over. I see a lot of people hating on them not just here but in other places too Maybe if people were building new guest houses on their acres of property and listing those but there is not even enough to house local residents. Plus there’s already cabins and hotels for people visiting. there are some cool listings up there that don’t take away housing though. I know of one that’s a treehouse in someone’s backyard and it’s beautiful! But there are people who work in town and have lived there their entire lives who are stuck in rvs or hotel rooms because they can’t find proper housing. In that case I think it’s really disheartening to see air bnbs pop up when it’s like, oh. I could really use a place. I lived in a 8x9 shed with no toilet or shower for two years while holding a job because I couldn’t find anything to rent. Meanwhile houses are being renovated for Airbnbs.. That said - when I moved away there were a lot more options for rentals since people were starting to leave so maybe it’s better suited to it these days.
This post is specifically about southern humboldt, in the post they say people are moving and there are a lot of rental vancancies. In these more rural places airbnbs would be beneficial…. In the middle of Arcata or eureka, no, there is a housing shortage for locals
Sorry I’m a little confused I guess- you’re saying airbnbs are good for sohum right? Sohum being garberville/Redway area? Because that’s where I was talking about. Unless I’m dumb and you mean airbnbs in eureka and arcata are good. I have no opinion on that
What are equity refugees
Folks that sell their homes in say LA area or Bay Area, move here, pay cash for a home, scoop a new awd vehicle, and buy everything they need from Amazon, chewie, and the food service boxes. (The third part is sort of a joke). Mostly means cash in on all the equity from expensive areas of California then relocate here with the profits. Buy a house for cash and a new car is pretty accurate.
Oh, those people… don’t much care for that
We can infer that at least a large portion don’t shop locally. Homes have never been more expensive or hard to find. Stores can’t stay open. Mall is empty. Restaurants always come and go. Have a friend that drives a FedEx truck. He said most of their business is Chewie dot com or the meal prep boxes. They don’t do Amazon. Would need to ask a UPS driver about that. Of course many long term residents also use those services. Which is why I said that part is more of a joke. But shopping local “used to be” a point of pride for this area.
Never ever heard of that food service in my life.
Chewie is a pet supplier, they sell things like dog food. My neighbor gets packages from them pretty frequently, even though we're not allowed to have pets here 🤔
Your neighbor gets their dog authorized as an emotional support animal. Suddenly the landlord is required by state law to allow the animal. (I'm not talking about a service animal... different law.) Even the university dorms have pets now.
I've never *seen* it though. I think it's more likely a cat tbh. Not that a cat couldn't be an ESA but I don't think that's the case here. They're probably just hiding it.
Imagine keeping a cat in a dorm room. There was a guy in my dorm who kept a turtle in a fish bowl filled with water -- and nothing else. It took weeks for everyone to convince him he was torturing his water-breathing turtle as it swam continuously to stay afloat. He OD'd before winter break. Dunno what happened to the turtle. My point is, people are stupid. Your neighbor could be keeping the dog inside all of the time. Some people should not own pets.
The ESA animals are largely a joke, and just people trying to get around the landlord pet policies.
I agree that the ESA law needs to be revised in some manner to weed out fakers who just want to get around pet policies. Or make allowing pets mandatory for landlords, but allow a substantial pet deposit for cleaning and carpet replacement.
I get a lot of deliveries from chewy because my pet has a medical condition and needs medication and prescription food that isn’t possible to get at local store
Big box stores are closing across CA. Target just closed tons of locations including one in a dense part of Oakland walking distance from thousands of people. CVS and Walgreens shuttering as well. We are moving to Humboldt soon from here and would be happy to support local businesses for the type of products from these spots but in my experience in Oakland Amazon is a replacement for other big box stores not local businesses. The local businesses either shuttered or don’t carry the products I’m looking for (like for my cat who was a stray in a parking lot and now needs stupid expensive prescription food).
That would be cool if target closed here. Take me back to twenty years aho
It happens and is the history of the area. It's actually how Humboldt got it foothold, from the first European settlers to the hippies in the 60's.
So what is wrong with all this? Holy crap is this just envy?
There is nothing envious in my comment nor is there anything labeled wrong or right. It’s an information comment. Are you ok?
It’s not right or wrong, but there are both pros and cons. Equity refugees tend to lead to areas being gentrified and/or areas rising in col, but wages stay stagnate due to very little money actually going into the local economy. Plus a majority of equity refugees typically do not invest in the community they move to. Some great examples are Thailand and the communities of British retirees found there and Mexico and the communities of American retirees found there. Both places have relatively large communities of retired people who cashed in on their equity and moved to the lower col countries like Thailand and Mexico. However, neither Thailand or Mexico experience much GDP or economic growth from these retirees. Plus most still pay UK/US taxes and typically avoid paying taxes to the host country.
Oh. Good post. I get it. Thank you. So if I retire to Humboldt County I need to create some jobs to balance things out. That and obviously respect local environmental values of course. Right? We are likely to be somewhat political refugees from Austin Texas driven to move by MAGA infestation. Thx in advance!
Sell a house on less than 1/3 an acre in Monterrey for 4.5 Million and buy a ranch for 2.5 million here.
I kind of disagree here. My wife and I are in the process of relocating right now, our house closes next week. If we weren't able to find housing within a 30-minute drive of Eureka/Arcata we wouldn't have made the move.
Congratulations! Which part do you disagree with?
Yah, if anything they just confirmed what you were saying?
Yes maybe without realizing it? “Eventually” means in the future. “Outer county” refers to anything south of Fortuna, north of McKinleyville and east of the 101. Carlotta, Rio Dell, Stafford, Korbel, Maple Creek, all within about 30 minutes of Arcata or Eureka.
To me, you were saying that Southern Humboldt would "eventually" be attractive to people. That's what I disagreed with.
Gotcha. Time will tell. I meant pretty much all the unincorporated areas which includes Fortuna, Carlotta, Rio Dell (even tho it is a city), Stafford, and south. Garberville is not super attractive right now. But it might be if the other areas of Ca continue to get more and more expensive, more fire prone, and property crimes increase.
I've lived here since 1985. Garberville has always been quite " unattractive".
A thirty minute radius is a large region. You will soon learn about living on "Humboldt time" and loathe your 30 minute drive to "the city", an hour round-trip. It's not like a 30 minute commute in a metropolitan area.
Being home in the suburbs after 10 years in Maine this hits so hard.
Dude, if you would have moved here in 2013, it was entirely different world. Especially garbervile/redway.
Oh I know! my family is from there and I visited so often growing up. That’s why I love it so much! It’s always felt like home
I got here in 2016. Can you elaborate on what 2013 was like?
You could pay rent just by trimming a few weekends a month.
Grow like 5 outdoor plants and be able to get $2500 for one pound
I’m told that currently SoHum is one of the areas in the country with the most foreclosures so expect a continued decline. The Humboldt Bay Area is set to see an increase if CalPoly hits their enrollment figures, when the fish farm gets going, when the wind farm gets going and when they start exploiting that huge internet pipe that was stretched from Asia. In ten years this area could see some real and vibrant growth.
They missed their enrollment prediction by thousands. They expected 2000 more, they got 98 more than average. The apartments in Arcata that I live in have lowered the rent price and there’s still multiple empty places. They just cannot fill. They inflated the rents over and over the past 4 years and it’s now biting them in the ass. Once they have that large new housing development there’s going to be more housing availability in the Humboldt Bay Area. They’re capping the STRs too. The students just aren’t coming. This area is just not very attractive to young adults with many great choices of colleges and areas to live in. It’s too rural and so far from any major city and it’s not prestigious. Maybe there will be growth off the other things going on but I don’t think it’s gonna be because of the college.
Arcata has amenities unlike anywhere in the world. Give it a couple years, people will catch on.
What amenities? Lol
The outside, dingus. Access to nature is an amenity.
Definitely not dating options!
Calpoly is definitely not making their enrollment prediction. I doubt Calpoly will be open in 10 years. The way they’re spending money and making dumb admin decisions is gonna bury them in debt and fines. They already have multiple students suing for ADA violations and housing violations.
I have concerns about the downtown community in Arcata (beside the homeless issue)- the hippies who started all these great creative traditions are passing on or moving away and selling their houses for minimum $750,000 which prices most locals out. Or renting their homes to students. Which doesn’t probably create community invested residents. And they need leadership with experience within city management. I love the quirky town but could see it becoming like any other coastal Cali town with boutiques run by rich people with money to burn for tourists if we keep pricing all the locals out. I’m sorry but who has the $$$$ for the vitamin and Ketamine treatment that opened there (and the money to open them) which are the newest Arcata businesses. And how do they encourage foot traffic? And so many realty offices there too. And allowing 10 dispensary licenses for a town that size was stupid too.
I wouldn't so much say dying as it's more accurate to say being killed by Corporate Slumlords, NIMBY's and corrupt Government Officials that refuse to do anything that'll actually help the area. That's not to say more people are leaving than coming, I'd say it's still the opposite. But it's getting harder for people who grew up in Humboldt Bay to stick around as costs continue to rise unchecked and services continue to stagnate or worsen. Even up through Nov 2019 when I left for a Job in another State (been back since Feb) the CoL was damn reasonable, like $550-650/mo for an Apt (Studio/sm 1BDRM) kind of reasonable. Vehicle fuel has always been high but Food wasn't nearly as bad as it is now, price wise. What happened is Corporations used Covid as an excuse to raise prices and just conveniently forgot to lower them back down. Since no Gubments stood in their way, they're just tickled pink to be experiencing the highest profits in their history in the past 1-3 years.
Landlords have raised rents in the area on 100’s of properties by the maximum 25% over the last three years. High inflation in the state following covid allowed them to raise by 10% instead of the normal year 5% max, and many took advantage. Truly abhorrent people.
Rents in SoHum were extremely overinflated for a region with no legal economy. Bout time it returns to ‘normal’
Well that is a good perspective
Yes I agree it’s such a nice thing to see
https://www.times-standard.com/2023/10/28/southern-humboldt-county-towns-rank-in-top-10-of-national-foreclosure-data/
Do you have a non paywall version?
I wouldn't say it's dying so much as it's becoming gentrified. Everything is so expensive, housing is ridiculous. The type of people who used to live here can't afford it anymore and are being replaced with LA and Bay Area transplants.
I’ve been seeing a lot of Bay Area and LA people who moved up during Covid actually moving out. Look on any housing website and you’ll see houses bought in 2020’s being put on the market again. People don’t realize how little attraction there is for ppl to stay in Humboldt. The medical scene is near non-existent, cost of living is not worth what you get for it, and employers severely underpay everyone. Also there’s not much entertainment that would attract city folk.
That's because everybody in Santa Cruz wants to move up there or maybe it's just me LOL
[удалено]
Nobody is moving because of climate change
They will as places like Arizona become even hotter hellscapes than they are. We are just now seeing the pain, and it only gets worse from here on out.
I did. I moved up here initially for school in 2013 and moved away in 2019. Went back to my home town in the foothills and my wife and I started our family. I thought we would live there for a while since my parents were so close and that made child care easy. Then when my daughter was 5 weeks old we had to evacuate because of fire. When my daughter was 6 months old a heavy snowstorm knocked out power for two weeks. The trees had been so damaged by drought that they could no longer withstand a snowstorm and hundreds of trees were brought down. We specifically chose this area because it feels at least somewhat insulated from the worst of the effects of climate change.
Cal Poly got less enrollment than last year…
Nope.. https://now.humboldt.edu/news/2023-24-enrollment-update
That was my bad. I got confused. They didn’t reach their enrollment goal. https://m.northcoastjournal.com/NewsBlog/archives/2023/09/12/cal-poly-humboldt-admin-optimistic-despite-not-meeting-enrollment-projections
There is a housing shortage in the Humboldt Bay area... attributed to the university expanding enrollment, but that's only a plan. The students aren't here yet, and the university has dorm vacancies. People from outside the area are moving here in significant numbers. California's population growth that Sacramento has warned Humboldt County about for decades, and given the county mandates to accommodate, has finally arrived. It's why Eureka is turning parking lots into apartment complexes. Meanwhile, the university has 5+ housing projects under development because it thinks it can nearly double in size in a short amount of time. It's not going to happen, but that's their plan.
Just watch. The university dorm buildings being built will end up being sold to a private landlord because Calpoly keeps not meeting their enrollment goal. Cracks me up how they thought becoming a Calpoly would boost student enrollment lmao
They need to radically change their marketing efforts.
Can you help me understand the county mandates some more? I'm not at all familiar with this. Also, has the local population numbers moved up much?
>California must plan for more than 2.5 million homes over the next eight-year cycle, and no less than one million of those homes must meet the needs of lower-income households. This represents more than double the housing planned for in the last eight-year cycle. [Source](https://statewide-housing-plan-cahcd.hub.arcgis.com/) * [2022 Statewide Housing Plan](https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/94729ab1648d43b1811c1698a748c136) * [What Happens To Cities That Defy California’s Housing Mandates?](https://voiceofoc.org/2023/03/what-happens-to-cities-that-defy-californias-housing-mandates/) * [Regional Housing Needs Allocation](https://www.hcd.ca.gov/planning-and-community-development/regional-housing-needs-allocation) * [Housing Element Implementation and Data Dashboard](https://www.hcd.ca.gov/planning-and-community-development/housing-open-data-tools/housing-element-implementation-and-apr-dashboard) -- If you dig, this has housing data for each local city. * [2019 Housing Element -- Humboldt County](https://humboldtgov.org/2448/2019-Housing-Element) This is by no means an authoritative set of links. I know only generalized information. I just googled these links. Send any further replies to me privately. I stopped using this sub because of the mod team.
Anywhere that’s triple-digit heat is dying….
Sorry I don't follow what this is in reference to. Can you please elaborate?
Any area that has over 100 F temps is a literal dying area, those temps are killing the people / plants / animals….
weed gone foo.
I left humboldt this year to explore my career, I wasn't fond of what I left mostly because prices are way too high and cal poly makes it impossible to be a local here. But I plan on moving back in a couple years, hopefully it will be better than when I left. I feel like CPH is quite literally driving humboldt into the ground.
I agree. I’ve noticed Cal Poly is ruining Arcata and there’s slowly more college kids than actual locals
There's always been more college students than locals
I don't know about y'all but we are craving ocean and forests. And we always shop local first.
As someone else said, we are in a transitional stage of a cycle, related to the cannabis industry legalization. When cannabis was illegal, it sold for $4,000-$6,000 a pound due to the risk and secrecy involved in production and distribution. This created scarcity because getting caught was such a huge risk. For those willing to take the risk, it was extremely profitable because it grows like a weed here. I mean, it's called, "weed." The black market supported the economy in multiple ways. Many businesses existed only to launder weed money, and prices were high because people working in the weed industry had affluent amounts of cash to spend. People who processed the raw plant into sellable bud/trim could make around $200 an hour, and so during harvest season we had people coming from all over the world to work here, aka "trimmigrants." Because we don't have regular seasons, I believe there were two or three major harvests a year for outdoor grows and indoor grows could be produced constantly based on the plant's life cycles. Since legalization eliminated the risk and secrecy, it also eliminated the scarcity and introduced a bunch of extra costs such as permitting, licensing, and taxes. Suddenly, under the table/unlicensed farms had to compete with legal farms, and the price no longer reflected the risk. All those fronts? No longer needed. Distributors/dealers? Out of a job. We officially have more dispensaries than coffee shops. Cannabis is no longer the backbone or identity of Humboldt County. Just like how our identity as a booming lumber economy fizzled out in the 1960s due to increased environmental restrictions and the local redwoods becoming protected within the boundaries of our massive local state parks. When one industry dies, it may feel like the whole area is dying, and for people who live here during that transition - especially if their entire livelihood was based on that industry - it may feel like a true death, but something else usually immerges. That's not to say an area can't go under. Look at Gary Indiana. It was a booming steel processing town in the 1950s, but for some reason, the major factories pulled out or relocated and the local economy was devastated. With so many households suddenly unemployed, all the support businesses closed, everyone else lost their jobs, nobody could afford rent or mortgages, and everyone migrated away. Now it's a ghost town and people are advised not to stop there because it's dangerous. Houses sell for $15,000-$50,000 but nobody is buying them. I don't think that will happen to Humboldt though. I think we have something really valuable that we haven't realized fully yet. With all this talk of work-life balance and self-care, leisure travel is going to boom soon and if we focus on that and start cleaning up our dilapidated infrastructure, we could really capitalize on that. We have an amazing art culture. We have an amazing food culture. We have gorgeous views. We have stunning beaches. We have temperate weather all year long. We have very low pollution. We have ancient, giant trees that can be found in few other places in the world. We have giant elk and lovely birds. We have authentic Victorian, Edwardian, 1920s and other historic-era architecture. We have the Skywalk at Sequoia Park Zoo. And we still have a reputation as producing the "Best Pot" - with endorsements from Robin Willians, Snoop Dog, Seth MacFarlane, Chris Rock, etc etc etc. If we could get high-speed rail (or any rail really) between here and San Francisco, people would come up here to see the Redwoods and buy Humboldt Pot and have dinner at Larrupins then head back to the city in the morning. If we can really focus on creating a draw for vacation tourism here, that will be our next boom and our new identity. Alternatively, with the introduction of the trans-pacific fiber optic cable, we might become a tech industry area.
just want to say thank you for this comment as well I think its well put and hopeful. I agree it has so much potential with all of those great things!
I’d disagree with the food culture. Humboldt food culture is very lacking and not diverse. Also relying on vacation tourism is the worst thing an area can do. It opens up the economy to be incredibly vulnerable to market crashes and it causes locals to be pushed out due to cost of living becoming too high.
Oh yeah, definitely lacking in diversity and for a fishing area it sure is hard to find good fish at restaurants. I just meant how many places serve simple ingredient, organic, locally sourced stuff. Like even the hotdogs at festivals are grass fed, organic, and local - and they don't just have lemonade, they have lavender infused lemonade. It's weirdly fancy. Those are valid points and I think we're for sure seeing the area become too expensive for locals.
Housing costs look pretty high for what you get. I know high and low is relative to other areas, but it is also relative to local salaries.
If you think people are going to move to Humboldt for some fairy tale idea of culture your delusional
Not what I said, but real positive outlook there, good for you.
The whole country looks like this, I’ve been from Alaska to Texas to Florida, Georgia, drove the whole width and breadth of this country in the few years. Humboldt is a funny beast I haven’t figured out yet
All I’ve gotta say is if you have a medical problem and you actually want good information from people you can trust, don’t go to garberville hospital, worst hospital in the world. When I sprained my knee they took some x tays and gave me a brace and crutches and the whole thing took like 4 hours. And like 5 years ago my grandpa had pneumonia and he went there and he died because they wouldn’t transfer him up to eureka because he needed something that they had up there but not in garberville… but yeah he ended up passing :( as a 17 year old that used to live in garberville until I was 7 then moved away and came back to garberville when I was like 13-14, this place is definitely DIFFERENT to how it used to be. It used to feel like such a community with all the old timers and just how small the area is so like everyone knew everyone (atleast for my family) but now it’s not like that at all. From my young perspective, I want to move out of here as soon as I possibly can, this place has almost no opportunities for finding a good career, feels like I’m trapped in that there’s nothing to do and you can’t just walk to the next town over to hang out with people, you gotta walk like 20 mins from redway to garb on the bluffs which is sketchy. And there’s also just nothing to do here anymore I feel like. There’s like thrift stores and gift shops you can go look at but other than that there’s not much activities. The theater used to be open but that closed down a while ago and is just sitting there now. I would say the reason sohum isn’t doing so well is the lack of quality healthcare. If we were able to attract all the old people that have money with a good hospital in the area I think that would bring in much more revenue. (This is just my random personal opinion, but what do I know I’m not even an adult yet)
Been here since 1985. Things are looking good for Humboldt right now.
In what way? Would love to hear your take on it since you been here for a long time.
A lot of the above mentioned projects like Cal Poly , the fiberoptic cable and the wind farm all seem really positive. I think the Great Redwood Trail will be a huge asset. It seem the wild swings of the weed industry are settling down and what has survived is doing well . Everyone I know is feeling optimistic Things look good to me.
There’s too many folks who are too ignorant to want housing , jobs, and environmental stability (they all go hand in hand here) + you’ve got alot of nepotistic corruption in city gov and damn near xenophobic levels of this paranoid saying of “oh yeah it’s great here but don’t tell anyone” anti outsider mentality that stunts its growth. Old folks want it to be a beachside retirement community, growers and trimmers half the time wanna live like there’s no rules or laws, and families/working class blue collar folks get completely ignored/neglected so they don’t stay here. + you’ve got the college bringing in low income students who have nowhere to go but their cars then kicking them onto the streets.University has unrealistic expectations for student population growth. Any time you have valid criticisms you get told to leave the county😂 that’s a big part of why it’s dying. everyones pissed it’s not cheap and wild like it was in 2012 instead of getting with the times and pushing for some large housing developments for local low income folks and homeless people and workers so we can at least try to save up enough to get ahead and participate in things that give you generational wealth like owning a home, etc. 7% interest rates are hard enough in an economy where if you make 20$ an hour people act like your a massive success when minimum wage would need to be 25$ an hour to have kept up with inflation. plus anytime a business wants to come here everyone flips out, like the false fears that In and Out was gonna raise wages too high and run out local businesses (all the local burgers are still here ffs)
Yes. Absolutely. And our current leadership missed a huge opportunity with cannabis tourism.
Canna tourism was always a pie in the sky idea, like peeps from SF Bay gonna drive 6+ hours to see a weed farm for the weekend. You can do the same thing way closer to town. Humboldt's brand name was always overblown
Humboldts brand name wasn’t overblown when the rest of the state was to be cowardly to grow illegally and all the growing was happening here because we truly were the last of the Wild West
I disagree. Our area is gorgeous. I think lots of people would pay to stay in a tree house on a canna farm. We have nothing else here.
It’s getting filled with “CaL PoLY”
Both Humboldt county and the southern part of Oregon west of Medford kind of suffer from the unique geography of this place. It’s always been a hard terrain to build proper highways. What we got going on here is that 101 doesn’t feel like a highway anymore and all the roads connecting it to the 5 are windy and hard traverse easily. Any town can be “interesting” if it chooses to be so. But not having that quick connectivity to a big city makes it hard to get the talent pool needed to make it thrive. The wet coastal weather doesn’t help either.
Yes.
I always wonder how all the business stay open with how weird the population is here
In addition to that I feel like the businesses choices they do make sometimes are really weird. In garberville a high end clothing store opened up during a time where everyone was struggling(and another expensive clothing store was shutting down too) and then were forced to close down a year later due to no business. I just don’t understand the priorities sometimes. This is entirely off topic but they also had a town beautification project where they painted on trashcans. meanwhile there is trash and dog poop littering all the sidewalks
Business' in Garberville and Redway will soon be scant. Literally everything is closing that doesn't offer essential goods. It's super fun living in a husk of a town where people still want to charge INSANE rental rates as if there's any real, decent paying jobs here, lol. Southern Humboldt is absolutely dying.
Just going back to how it was before the weed boom..it was always a husk of a town imo.
I don't disagree. So many people are like "We're gonna save our town!" and there is no feasible path to do that. This situation is only going to get worse, and people here can't seem to face that.
Ironically Cal Poly took in more folks then could be housed in Arcata & now people are being told they can’t live in their vehicles on campus. As for Redway & Garbervill are concerned, the growers are moving out to places they can get properly paid for their work, or just throwing in the towel . This is a sad situation imo . I hope Humboldt County can bounce back . With the climate situation some humans are going to realize soon enough that this place is better then many other options. This is a pivotal time for our beautiful coastal county . Let’s all keep good thoughts and hold fast .
I think Humboldt is gonna get fucked by climate change. I don’t know much about the science behind climate change, but I have a feeling Humboldt isn’t this safe nature haven everyone thinks it is. Nor is the rest of the northwest. Earthquakes, increasing fires, and tsunami/flood risk will make the northwest coast as uninhabitable as anywhere else
I don't know the areas history very well besides earthquakes. Are the frequent fires in the area? The flood risk from rising sea levels is legit as well.
There’s fire risks in the areas surrounding the coast. However, this doesn’t mean ppl on the coast are safe from smoke inhalation. We’ve had a few years now where fire season has made the area’s air quality bad enough for public alerts to be issued.
That makes sense. Has the smoke pollution been from nearby fires or largely ones further away? I'm trying to understand the risk of fires moving into the area vs smoke based pollution. Neither are good but given how recently fires have wiped out entirely cities , that is of particular interest. Thanks.
Earthquakes WILL make? Lol..
What’s your point? This comment doesn’t really make sense lol
One reason for people leaving is because the cost of living. Living in Humboldt is ridiculously expensive for what you get. Plus a majority of employer’s and business owners think it’s still the economy of the 1980’s, so pay their workers deflated wages while overcharging the customers.
I honestly don’t really understand people saying it’s so expensive! So is every where else. You can actually get nicer apartments in eureka for cheaper than what I’m paying in a shitty Salem Oregon neighborhood - although I do understand it has to do with what kind of jobs/ pay you can get. In Redway I had a cabin with a large private fenced yard for $750 and I worked part time min wage. I can’t think of another place in CA that is cheaper for that beautiful of a location! Definitely not worried about the cost although it’s terrible locals are being priced out
I think part of it is that houses that sold for $280K in 2020 are $400K now and a 2BR apartment that was $950 in 2018 is $1,800 now. It's not that it's similar in price to other places, it's that for this area, which is isolated and definitely has weird wage caps, the cost of living has nearly doubled while wages have only gone up a couple of dollars an hour. I was making $13.50 in 2018, and I'm making $19.75 now - having switched from working at a casino to working for an office. My exact job in Portland Oregon would pay at least $26 an hour, but I could rent a 2BR nicer than the one I currently have for $1,200 according to [apartments.com](https://apartments.com). Sure, I'd give up the gorgeous views, clean rivers to swim in, black sand beaches, and low pollution but I would gain access to a major airport. If I could get my family to agree to the move, we'd go. I'd miss it here, but it's becoming impractical. Side note, when did you have that apartment in Redway? Not disagreeing, just curious, because I wouldn't think that's possible anymore. I mean, just look at this little place in Weot for $1,200. I've been inside this place, it's TINY. [https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/347686391005344/?ref=category\_feed&referral\_code=null&referral\_story\_type=post&tracking=browse\_serp%3A14be00dd-567f-4024-9e58-3089fb1237a2](https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/347686391005344/?ref=category_feed&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post&tracking=browse_serp%3A14be00dd-567f-4024-9e58-3089fb1237a2) Edit: Ooooh, wait, Redway and Garberville prices are plummeting because, without the farms up in the hills, people are moving out of those areas. Got it.
Honestly those prices are true for places like Salem as well. In the last 3 years starter houses went from $250k to 350k in, with many a lot higher and no significant raise in wages. We were considering buying a house here just a year ago and now can't. Portland is a whole other beast that I know nothing about but I have noticed that apartments tend to be cheaper there for some reason. I'm not sure if they're in really bad neighborhoods or what. I will say, living in Salem its crazy how much I have access to within 20 minutes - so I don't disagree that cost of living is high for Humboldt especially with the jobs available at the moment. I think that's one of hardest things- lack of job opportunities and I guess pay which I didn't consider. I would've had my boyfriend move to Humboldt instead of moving here if he could actually find somewhere to work in his field(tech). But like you said, you would be missing out on so much nature. Being next to a major airport would mean absolutely nothing to me while being next to the redwoods and ocean would be worth an increase in cost in my opinion. For me, there wouldn't be one though. From what I'm seeing on craigslist I could have a 2 or 3bdrom House with a yard for $1600 to $1700 in both eureka and Garberville... I'm paying $1500 for a duplex, with a shared unfenced yard that's just as big if not smaller than the one you linked with no washer or dryer in unit. Its also old and has poor insulation, 2 prong outlets everywhere, previously had roaches, and was super dirty when we moved in. There are cheaper rentals here I'll admit but one of my restrictions is the fact I have 4 pets so that limits me. I lived in Redway less than a year ago! I moved in the middle of may. My cabin was probably about the size of the one you linked but it was surrounded by a privacy fence. It was also dirty and old with poor insulation and rats. and my landlord didn't like to fix anything but it had massive windows, a huge yard, garden, and two covered porches. It was never listed online and I got it from word of mouth and essentially begged for it because at the time I was desperate. I think after I left she fixed the floors and relisted it at $850
It’s because the average wages in the area are far below the cost of living. Yes, Humboldt is relatively cheaper than the rest of Ca, but it also has one of the highest poverty rates and lowest median income in CA. If the average worker is making $15.50/Hr in Humboldt they will not be able to afford to live in Humboldt. A lot of ppl only make $15.50 in Humboldt.
For sure! I don’t know how I brushed over that before
There is a new wind project literally on the horizon. A fish farm on the Bay amidst a gem of a wildlife refuge is in full swing development (what will those fish eat btw and how much? Not a fan of this ) . There was also a data center planned with undersea cables from Asia landing somewhere along Samoa. haven't heard much about that recently though Fire victims have relocated here. Traffic up so much the air quality was Poor because of nitrogen. Add it all up we conclude that............
[удалено]
Cool claim, show data
According to what? Lol