A Facebook contractor is living out of her car because she says she cannot afford the high rents in Silicon Valley, where Facebook’s headquarters are located.
“I tell people all the time, stop looking at what somebody got and what you see on the outside,” Unique ‘Pinky’ Parsha told KTVU Friday.
Parsha, who goes by ‘Pinky’ because a lot of what she owns is the color pink, says she cannot afford rent in the northern California neighborhood with her student loans and medical expenses.
The Silicon Valley Business Journal reports that the average rent for a one-bedroom in Santa Clara County is over $2,300 a month.
Parsha has resorted to living out of her car despite working for the tech giant because it’s all she can afford.
“This car means everything to me because it’s all I have basically,” Parsha said.
Parsha told KTVU that she has not told her co-workers about her living situation because she feels “embarrassed” and “does not want to be looked down upon.”
“They would be shocked that I’m going through that because they would be like ‘I see you smiling at work, you appear to be happy. You look normal, you look clean,'” Pasha said.
Despite the fear of her co-workers finding out the truth, she decided to publicize her situation to raise awareness of the high cost of living in the Bay Area.
“I think that companies need to look at the salaries, are we paying employees enough to survive?” she asks.
Other low-wage workers at Facebook are also facing similar living situations. The Mercury News reports that a couple who works at the cafeteria at Facebook’s Menlo Park headquarters lives in a two-car garage with their three young children.
A representative for Facebook told the Daily Mail that the company understands that the less fortunate are burdened by a higher cost of living.
When asked if Facebook contributed to the higher rents in the area, the representative would not comment.
The representative added that Parsha was hired by and works for a third-party contractor affiliated with Facebook.
The company said it tries to create a “fair and equitable” workplace for its employees, including contractors.
Company literature states that Facebook’s minimum salary is $15 an hour, including those working with third-party contractors. The company’s representative said Facebook has requirements in place that require contractors give its employees a minimum of 15 days paid vacation and a $4,000 child care benefit.
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