Rent is so high in San Francisco that I'm a software engineer and I live in a van

``Overall, I'm proud of the way my project turned out. But of course this living situation wouldn't be possible if I didn't already have a job that feeds me and allows me to shower and do laundry at work. I also have a network of friends who are ready to step in should a crisis emerge and offer me a temporary bed. And I am a young, white woman, which gives me the immense privilege of pulling up a creepy van and parking it without being harassed. People don't report me; neither do they assume I'm a vagrant. They smile and ask if I need anything.''