> And the solution? It's just build more houses, so the rents go down
Right, but the problem is that it's largely illegal to actually build more houses in San Francisco.
Right, but the problem is that it's largely illegal to actually build more houses in San Francisco.
The reality is that owners are older, wealthier, stronger-rooted voters -- while renters are younger, transient and don't vote. This is the result.
Things like height restrictions, "shade" restrictions, NIMBY-ism, red-tape -- all the way down to mortgage interest tax deductions -- are to the benefit of owners and to the detriment of renters. They're all political issues that can be resolved but we choose not to.