[omot]

It's a simple math of demand and supply. Density restrictions keep supply in check it keeps it constant, but demand grows exponentially over time, due to immigration and population growth. Thus price grows astronomically high. If you remove restrictions and with the right technology you could create housing that keeps up with the demand growth. SF homelessness is really about incompetence of city politicians, bureaucracy, and the lack of good talent in public service. Why would I want to work for the city to make it a better place when companies inside my city or just further down to the south pays me 3x or 4x what they're offering.

[posguy]

Dezoning most American cities would be quite a good thing. We massively subsidize parking thanks to our zoning requiring parking minimums (such that buildings are only able to rent parking for low $0.xx/sqft a month, versus $x/sqft a month for housing in the same building), and we also block or kneecap larger buildings by restricting their size and the number of units within them.

These restrictions (nearly all carried out as zoning) could easily be removed and allow a wave of development to occur, lowering housing costs and keeping many people from ending up homeless in the first place.