SF's out-of-control rent control
Experts say Mayor Lurie's rent control schemes actually increase costs.
Increased costs don't magically disappear
"When the city delays collection of unpaid rent or funds one-sided legal eviction defense, the expenses remain. Other renters absorb those costs — without receiving any comparable benefit.
"Fund one-sided legal representation and the cost of an eviction does not stay with the renter involved. Unpaid rent, legal fees, and delay are spread across the rental market.
"Mortgage payments, insurance, maintenance, property taxes, and utilities remain due whether rent arrives or not. Owners price that risk into rents."--Irene Smith, United Housing Alliance
Not economically literate: Lurie doubling down on failure
"The fact that the tenant protections and rent control policies San Francisco already has in place are not adequately suppressing today's rent spike would suggest that a marginal tightening of those policies won't solve the problem either.
"In fact, it could make it worse.
"Traditional economic theory suggests that rent control will drive up the price of uncontrolled units by increasing demand to live in the city and encouraging tenants to hold onto their below-market-priced units.
"In San Francisco, the small 10 percent slice of non-rent-controlled units must absorb most of the upward pressure on rents being generated by the AI boom."--Reason magazine
Remember: Housing affordability much more complex than just controlling rent
"Even during the pandemic, when a temporary exodus slowed SF’s prices, a 2021 Federal Reserve report found that 'many [San Francisco] residents are struggling to afford housing' due to 'growing inequality and wages that have not kept pace with rising costs.'
“'It’s a good time to be affluent or have a job at an AI startup,' says real estate analyst Patrick Carlisle, 'but for the less affluent times are more difficult, and the city will probably only get more expensive to live in.'"--The Frisc
Lurie's moderate approach crumbling
"Lurie’s new focus on rent and tenant protections is a marked shift in his approach to housing affordability.
"When running for mayor in 2024, he disappointed tenant advocates by refusing to support the expansion of rent control to more units in San Francisco. That year, Prop. 33, a state measure that would have allowed cities in California to expand rent control, was on the ballot but failed."--Mission Local
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