US

Two Cats Live Alone In $1,500 Silicon Valley Apartment

(Shutterstock/Roman Seliutin)

Jon Brown Associate Editor
Font Size:

In the latest example of Silicon Valley opulence, two cats are reportedly the sole occupants of a $1,500-per-month studio apartment in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The fortunate felines, named Tina and Louise, are the pets of 18-year-old college student Victoria Amith, Mercury News reported. Amith’s father, 43-year-old Troy Good, works for an analytics software company, and reportedly rented the pricey living quarters for the cats when he was unable to keep them in his new apartment because of his fiancé’s terrier. (RELATED: Sacramento To Spend $400,000 Cleaning Up After Squatters And The Homeless)

Tina and Louise are described on their Instagram as “Two spoiled Maine coon/ Bombay sisters” that were “rescued in 2014.” Since July they have presumably spent much of their days lounging in their San Jose apartment, which comes equipped with a bathroom, shower, Apple TV, couch and cat tree.

There is no kitchen, but the cats’ landlord, David Callisch, checks in on them daily to feed them. (RELATED: Eating A Cat Could Send You To Prison Under Proposed Law)

With the average rent for a studio apartment in the San Jose area at roughly $2,000 per month, Tina and Louise are making out relatively well — much better, in fact, than many humans. According to a report by the California state auditor, the state “has more people experiencing homelessness (the homeless population) than any other state in the nation, and it does a poor job of sheltering this vulnerable population.”

According to the 2017 Annual Homeless Assessment Report by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, California accounts for nearly half of the nation’s “unsheltered,” or those who “are living in vehicles, abandoned buildings, parks, or on the street.” (RELATED: San Francisco Is A Literal S***hole, Public Defecation Map Reveals)

Jennifer Loving, CEO of Destination Home, an organization that helps the homeless, said, “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.”

Editor’s Note: Since original publishing, Tina and Louise’s Instagram account has been made private. Their embedded Instagram photos have, therefore, been removed from the story.