Sponsored link
Saturday, November 14, 2026

Sponsored link

Why building more market-rate housing can’t possibly solve the city’s crisis

JULY 15, 2014 — Yesterday, we presented Part One of our Housing Video Series, explaining how San Francisco got into this mess. And in Part Two, we show how the “market-based solution” that the mayor and so many others appear to favor — just building and building for-profit market-rate housing — will eventually bring down costs.

Fact: We have abundant empirical data to show that’s just not true. Check out this video and understand why trickle-down housing economics won’t work in San Francisco — and to get a sense of what will.

By the way: If you want an idea of what happens to a city that is enamored of building highrise housing without much limit, check out Vancouver. Once a jewel of the West Coast, it now looks like … Hong Kong.  Or Miami Beach on steroids. And housing prices are still out of reach for many.

You want SF to look like this?
You want SF to look like this?

 

Tim Redmond
Tim Redmond
Tim Redmond has been a political and investigative reporter in San Francisco for more than 30 years. He spent much of that time as executive editor of the Bay Guardian. He is the founder of 48hills.

48 Hills welcomes comments in the form of letters to the editor, which you can submit here. We also invite you to join the conversation on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. 

Sponsored link

Sponsored link
Sponsored link

Latest

‘Club Kid’ tracks a partier’s transformation—but there’s an actual kid in an actual club, too

Director-star Jordan Firstman on his lauded debut's influences, the exhaustion of self-centeredness, and his surprise child's mad DJ skills

Drama Masks: A breakneck ‘Marriage of Figaro’ that never lets up

SF Opera follows up Rossini's 'Barber of Seville' with Mozart's sequel to the story—and cranks the volume to 11.

Marina Safeway lawsuit will be a key test of the Wiener-Yimby agenda

Can a project with serious toxics issues get fast-track approval with no environmental review? The City Planning Dept. thinks so.

Move to San Francisco, Elon; we seem to love billionaires here

An open letter to the tech baron who failed to control the politics of Texas

You might also likeRELATED