Those of us who live with furry companions in our lives are likely well aware of how much we dote upon them. I mean, I know that in my house, the cats are spoiled rotten. I don’t even care, I’m going to keep spoiling them, too.
But providing them with their own living space seems to be taking it a bit far even for my tastes. It also kind of defeats the purpose of having pets at all — the love and companionship. But in an emergency, things like this can happen. It’s just weird to see it happen in a place where rent is ridiculous.
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Troy Good had a problem: namely, his daughter’s cats.
He had just moved in with his fiancee and her dog, but the animals didn’t all get along, so something had to give. It wasn’t the dog, or the fiancee.
The cats, named Tina and Louise after the characters on “Bob’s Burgers,” have been together since they were kittens.
They’re inseparable now, and of course they’re his daughter’s entire world — she even set up a (private) Instagram account for them. She just couldn’t take them to university with her, leaving it up to Troy to take care of them. So what’s a devoted dad to do?
Well, Troy just happened to have a friend, David Callisch, who was looking to make some extra cash renting out a studio apartment behind his house.
It was a match made in kitty heaven. “Basically I’ve got two renters that don’t have opposable thumbs,” David told The Mercury News . “It’s actually great. They’re very quiet, obviously. The only problem is they stink up the place.”
It’s a pretty good deal for Troy and his daughter as well.
$1,500 for a studio apartment is pretty reasonable in the area, and David provides some extras, popping in to feed and play with the cats daily. Troy drops in as often as he can, too, and his daughter is sure to visit during breaks in school.
It’s only a temporary situation, however.
Troy’s daughter plans to take Tina and Louise with her when she moves out of her dorm. “I love my cats so much,” she said. “I’m so attached to them. I’m like a cat lady.”
However, this whole situation brings awareness to the difficulty of scarce housing in Silicon Valley.
Jennifer Loving, CEO of Destination Home, which works to ending homelessness in Santa Clara County, calls it “peak Silicon Valley. While this story is funny, it really does highlight the tremendous inequity in the Silicon Valley. We have thousands of people on our streets, and we’re paying to make sure that our cats have a place to live.”
David says that he does feel bad that he’s renting to cats instead of people.
But, at the same time, it’s much easier to be a landlord to cats than to humans. And it’s even easier for him to help out a friend in need. “It’s just a weird thing that happened, that’s all,” he said.
Troy’s daughter stresses that the location of the apartment isn’t exactly ideal for renters anyway.
“It’s not in a public space, it’s in someone’s backyard, because there’s obviously a huge housing issue in the area, and I don’t want people to be like, ‘Oh, this is taking away the housing,'” she told KPIX .
h/t The Mercury News
