SF must address housing, not bicker

http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/san-francisco-must-address-housing-not-bicker/Content?oid=2645127

San Francisco has a housing crisis. On top of the increases in prices, both for buying and renting, and the evictions and buyouts pushing people from their homes, there is a question hanging around The City about what is next — and the uncertainty is causing people to be fearful.

The City is currently perched in a precarious position in the national spotlight as a city whose residents are suffering from their town’s own economic success. But that storyline, one that has been seized upon by the national media, vastly oversimplifies what San Francisco is and what our leaders and community are able to do when working together.

At the same time, city leaders, many of whom are tirelessly working on solutions, have failed to clearly communicate their message about how The City is reacting to the economic and affordability issues. Instead, the continual drum of news stories about the problem, not the solution, have too many feeling as though they are marching toward a cliff — or fleeing to avoid it.

For many longtime residents, and those who know The City well, San Francisco has always been one of the more expensive places to live. But there is a new feeling in The City, backed by recent surveys, that San Francisco is more expensive now than it used to be.

And people are correct, in many ways, in feeling this way.

Housing prices have surged in the past few years with a meteoric recovery from the housing slump. In addition, The City’s rapid economic recovery from the Great Recession has brought back jobs quickly — so much so that the forces on the rental market are driving up prices on those units not under rent control.

The housing prices are also leading landlords to use evictions and buyouts to oust renters from units that can then be sold at market rate in the hot market.

City officials’ response to the affordability crisis has not kept up with the increasing fear felt by San Franciscans, who can be heard at coffee shops and lunch spots talking about economics and market forces. It would be hard to blame any lawmaker for taking time to pivot. Just a few years ago, they were doing everything they could to stimulate the economy. The City has rapidly gone from having double-digit unemployment to now hovering around the 5 percent mark — a striking change.