[tomsaffell]

I agree with your sentiment, but just for completeness, there are a few ways existing residents get 'priced out':

1) the 'assessed value' of owned property (used to calculate property tax) can be raised ~2% per year[a], so over a decade a home owner's property tax may increase ~22%

2) Not all of SF has rent control. Any building constructed after 1979 does not. [b]

3) Not all renters are savvy enough to not get kicked out by greedy landlords, despite the laws protecting them. Apparently landlords often use 'renovations' as a way to do that. Just last week I overheard a conversation in Trader Joes about someone who had fallen pray to that [c]

TLDR: money is like water - it will find its way through the cracks to the place it wants to be (the pockets of those with capital).

a: http://www.sftreasurer.org/index.aspx?page=66 b: http://www.sftu.org/rentcontrol.html c: time travel to TJ's on 8th, ~8.30am last Sunday.