>San Francisco had just as many houses before tech moved in
That's the problem, no?
This. Basic supply/demand problem. For those in control of that scare resource (Bay Area housing close to employers/amenities), that constraint is pure profit.
Both "cities will thin out because of covid" and "cities will remain the same despite covid" are pretty reductionist of much larger and more complicated trends I'm sure.
I'm aware I reduced the two sides in summarizing them above haha.
Basically yes and insane NIMBY regulations have kept the city from reducing the cost of living via more open housing regulations and support for multiunit housing and ridiculous amounts of permitting.