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Comment by gradstudent | Hacker News Reader

I think the headline is only true if the new housing for the rich actually increases the overall supply. Is that actually happening in SF?

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Yes. Contrary to popular belief, not a single housing unit (at any income level) has been torn down in the Mission, for any reason, since at least 2010 (as far back as online records go).

Source: http://rationalconspiracy.com/2015/05/25/new-york-times-make...

Also, I should note that, contrary to popular belief, there's not much new luxury housing in the Mission. In fact, there's not much new housing in the Mission at any economic level. In 2014 (the last year for which data is available), there were a grand total of 74 units built in the entire Mission. Not 74 buildings. 74 units.

Source: http://www.sf-planning.org/ftp/files/publications_reports/20...

No one is tearing down old units. People are trying to get new units built, mostly on vacant lots, and getting blocked by incumbent landlords who want to see prices go even higher.

Tearing down old units is not enough. The construction works need to actually increase the overall housing stock. If old tenement buildings disappear and are replaced by oversize luxury apartments the overall stock goes down and the situation for the poor is made worse.

That trend has been going on in SF for a long time. Dwellings are getting larger steadily over many decades, and the number of people who live in a dwelling has been getting steadily smaller.

Do you have any links that show this research?

The census tracks people per household. In 1940 this stood at 3.08. In 2010 it was 2.26. A "housing unit" built today simply doesn't hold as many people as it once did.

Isn't that the opposite of what you posted above? I thought you were claiming dwellings are getting bigger in SF.

My intuition is that they are getting smaller. The old houses are all subdivided. The new apartments are all small. The exception is some large lofts in SOMA but there are plenty of tiny lofts in China Beach, 5th and Mission, 8th and Mission, 10th and Market.

I'm not saying the average is smaller since I don't have any data only personal observation. It sounds like your extrapolating that 2.26 people are getting more space than 3.08 people were before?

Dwellings are getting bigger. All the new construction is larger than average for the given number of bedrooms. Dwellings are larger, and fewer people are living in each of them. Both of these factors are headwinds for the housing market.

Old tenement buildings do not disappear, at least not in the Mission: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11092556

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