Right - just build more housing. Forget about failing utilities, packed roads, overwhelmed social services, crowded schools! Just build more skyscrapers and move half of the country to SF so that we can all drown in shit together.
This oversimplification that we just need to build more houses is amusing. SF is a tiny city, stuffing more people here won’t resolve many of the problems that already make life here difficult. And no, it won’t lower rent by much: SF doesn’t exist in a vacuum, more people will move here and will keep rent as high as before.
But... San Franciscans don't want to live in a city like Tokyo or Taipei. Who would benefit from this changing city with taller buildings? Not many San Franciscans want that, so newcomers? I am not convinced either. People love the Bay and move here because of what it is, not because of what it is not. The complaints that I am hearing most often are about public transport, crime, street cleaning, social services. Not about having small buildings in SF.
This oversimplification that we just need to build more houses is amusing. SF is a tiny city, stuffing more people here won’t resolve many of the problems that already make life here difficult. And no, it won’t lower rent by much: SF doesn’t exist in a vacuum, more people will move here and will keep rent as high as before.