[maxkimmel]

Your question gets asked often: How long can this continue?

And the answer is: It will continue as long as people are willing to pay the rent.

I understand from your post that you are fed up with the high rent and the low quality of living. But the most important part of what you said is the fact that you are still willing to pay, and you are still willing to stay, despite all of the disadvantages. In other words, you have decided (whether you like it or not) that in your case the advantages of living in SF outweigh all of the disadvantages.

And there are many others like you. You are all collectively voting for things to continue the way they are.

Making it stop would require you (or others like you) to decide the trade-off isn't worth it.

[madrox]

My girlfriend and I decided in January that the trade off is no longer worth it. Now it’s just about timing.

While I hear what you’re saying, I’m musing more specifically on what that function looks like. I understand “it will continue as long as it can” but looking for a less rhetorical answer.

[1812Overture]

I regularly have recruiters coming to me with jobs in the Bay Area. I tell them that my salary requirement is double for up there versus Los Angeles. A few of the big players will always be able to afford that, but I see smaller tech companies and startups moving away due to cost.

[stale2002]

Alternatively, a bunch of us could get together and change the laws, so as to make the city better.

The more people who get screwed by housing, the more political power we will gain, until something eventually gives out, and we start winning the political game.