[stickfigure]

The solution is for local families to be muscled out.

Hi, let me introduce myself. I am SF's housing crisis. So are many of my friends. We're those "local families" who have been living in SF for 15+ years in rent-controlled apartments. We're still here because the rent is cheap. If our rent went up even moderately, we'd probably move to the suburbs; by the time you hit your 40s, you get tired of stepping over panhandlers and human feces.

If you really want to get angry, let me tell you about the multiple times I've moved away for extended periods and kept the apartment unoccupied as a pied-a-terre. Rent control makes it affordable!

There are a lot of us, enough to occupy a significant chunk of the housing stock. Because we've taken this stock off the market, the available float is smaller than it would otherwise be, so everyone's bidding up what's left.

Would average rents go up without rent control? Certainly. But it would force a lot of us "local families" to make long-overdue decisions, freeing up housing, and driving down the average "new rent".

[s73ver_]

"The solution is for local families to be muscled out."

No, it absolutely is not.