Rent control in SF is not the primary cause of the failure to build to meet demand. Anti-development zoning laws, anti-development rhetoric, an obscenely convoluted permitting process, and NIMBY protests of questionable motivation are currently the source of the city's woes.

Consider:

* New construction is not subject to rent control.

* Newly built units are renting for $2,200 -> $3,000+ per bedroom per month.

* Again, those rates are not subject to rent control and may be increased at any time.

* Folks with apartments to rent often hold hours-long open houses where dozens of people attend to be interviewed, present their proof of financial stability, and jockey to make the best offer (read: pay the most) to their prospective new roommate/landlord. [0]

In any reasonably managed city, I would agree that rent control stifles construction. In this city, rent control is hardly even a bump in the road; there's no rational reason not to build.

[0] Source: I recently had a friend attempt to find a vaguely affordable place to live in the city. fully 80% of the places she looked at (and she was looking at at least one a week) did this.