&quot;let&#x27;s look at NYC and Tokyo: despite all that density, the problem of housing availability remains.&quot;<p>NYC has a housing availability problem. It&#x27;s the same one as San Francisco: new denser construction is near impossible to get a permit for. If NYC permitted lots more housing to be built, the cost of housing would become affordable.<p>Tokyo does not have a housing availability problem. The vast majority of families in Tokyo live in single family homes they own close to parks and rail transit. The ratio of housing cost to family income in Tokyo is more like affordable Dallas or Atlanta than nightmarishly expensive NYC or SF.<p>How did Tokyo do it? It permitted lots and lots of by-right building on small lots, issued permits automatically for new homes, didn&#x27;t require any parking at all for every unit, platted out narrow streets, and built lots of rail transit at reasonable prices. There are few skyscrapers -- Tokyo&#x27;s density is 150 (people&#x2F;hectare), only double SF&#x27;s average density and similar to North Beach, Pacific Heights, or Russian Hill.<p>It&#x27;s too late for SF to build narrow streets, but permitting multi-story rowhouse construction throughout the city could easily add a few hundred thousand units and substantially reduce housing prices. A full solution will require other Bay Area cities to also permit reasonable density construction.