Gentrification's Price: S.F. Moves: Yuppies In, the Poor Out (1985)

For anyone who is interested in a CPI inflation adjusted view of those numbers, &quot;$900-$1000&quot; for rent in North Beach in 1985 is supposedly worth about $2100-2400 now.<p>Their combined salary of $30,000 per year would now be about $71,000.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bls.gov&#x2F;data&#x2F;inflation_calculator.htm" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bls.gov&#x2F;data&#x2F;inflation_calculator.htm</a><p>However, the article says &quot;$900-$1000&quot; was for &quot;an apartment&quot; without specifying the number of rooms. It seems reasonable that it might&#x27;ve been a 2 bedroom apartment.

I often wonder about how sustainable SF’s growth is. Between the issues with housing, rent control, NIMBYism, and poor infrastructure, there has to be a price tag at which this can’t continue. I live in the city, and the quality of living here is terrible compared to other cities.<p>The only thing SF has going for it is the people, but sooner or later the right social pressures could cause a mass exodus, and I wonder what those pressures look like.

I don&#x27;t see what is so wrong with gentrification. As the economy expands and people become more prosperous, it restores blighted parts of the city to their full potential.<p>I also think that rent control is disrespectful to the rights of the property owner. Other than making sure that there is no discrimination, and that properties aren&#x27;t fire traps, government should get out of the way.

If you want to see the latest in the gentrification war, check out the San Francisco subreddit. On the one hand, it’s everyone complaining about the nuisance of the on demand scooters; on the other, it’s people complaining about the needles and human feces. It may have been about poor vs yuppie in 1985, but it’s a culture war now.

Assuming that the housing supply is finite, the poorest person living in a city is also displacing a different potential resident, just as much as a medium income person, right? Yet gentrification is always portrayed as the &quot;richer&quot; people trampling on poor people. Go figure.