Sponsored link
Saturday, July 12, 2025

Sponsored link

Explaining why SF has a housing crisis — and who’s at fault. In ten minutes

JULY 14, 2014 — San Francisco politics is full of mythology, and one of the great myths of 2014 is that the progressives, the community activists, the neighborhoods are somehow to blame for the housing crisis.

Not the commercial office developers and the politicians who did their bidding; not the Redevelopment Agency that wiped out thousands of units. Not greed or speculation; no, it’s the fault of the rest of us.

Listen to this video to get a little mythbusting.

As Calvin Welch, who has been watching local politics and housing issues since the 1960s, points out, the same people who want to blame the community were for decades actively pushing policies that put us in the mess we’re in. Nobody wanted to build housing in the 1970s and 1980s; there was too much money in commercial office development. Only the so-called Nimbys pushed for housing – affordable housing mandates for office development, for example. None of the pro-market political leaders wanted to demand that the office developers pay to house all the new workers they were attracting; that was the left, the progressives, who pointed out the crisis coming and demanded action.

Watch a real historian who was there through it all tell you the truth. It’s the best ten minutes you’ll spend all day.

Video by Peter Menchini/Maya Media

Tomorrow: Why San Francisco can’t build itself out of this crisis. In ten minutes.

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

Britney blackout: Author Jeff Weiss relives the ’00s pop culture cataclysm

Music journalist's gonzo new book 'Waiting for Britney Spears' dives into the tabloid-strewn wreck of the schlocky decade.

Under the Stars: Madlib’s sonic crystal ball spins again

Plus: Kendra Morris scores a reggae-tinged 'Flat Tire,' Jay Som rocks back with 'Float,' Directions in Stereo dips into the wax stacks

Good Taste: An obsessive early guide to the Outside Lands food multiverse

Fun bevs, free samples, fries as meals, super splurges, and more: It’s not too soon to plan your festival menu.

Unplugging with Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Adding stalwart guitarist Imaad Wasif, the indie heroes hit Symphony Hall to explore their acoustic side—and some new emotional textures.

You might also likeRELATED