Subscribe our newsletter and get notifications to stay update
Not a single San Francisco resident alive today will see the city fix its housing crisis, a new study suggested.The study said the city will take as long as 124 years to solve its housing crisis despite sweeping YIMBY initiatives.That’s even if the city increases it’s housing supply by 1.5% every year, much quicker than the city’s current rate.It would take a minimum of 18 years for a median one-bedroom apartment to become affordable for a person earning the median wage of a non-college graduate.“Both scenarios require enormous, localized shocks to the housing stock,” the report says.
“This simple exercise clearly illustrates that interventions focused on market-race supply alone are unlikely to generate widespread affordability in any meaningful timeframe.”YIMBYs, hopeful that their approach to weakening zoning laws and cutting red tape will help the area’s housing problems, have been stymied by the study.The executive director of YIMBY Action, Laura Foote, waxed poetic in quoting a proverb in a statement to the San Francisco Standard.“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit in,” she said.Contrary to the YIMBY focus, the issue isn’t housing supply, the study’s authors say, it’s wage disparity.
The tech boom has drawn in high-earners to the Bay Area, who are competing with lower-wage workers for housing.Tech companies themselves leased a record amount of space in 2025: 10.2 million square feet worth.
Get the perfect blend of news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.Please provide a valid email.
By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.Never miss a story One example of the surge in high-earners is that the median household income in San Francisco County nearly doubled from $69,354 in 2011 to $137,184 in 2024, according to census bureau data.
For comparison, the median household income in L...