&gt; You&#x27;re not trapped anywhere.<p>I am. Over the past five years &quot;my&quot; apartment building has changed hands several times. The current landlord is a large company who actively attempts to remove long-term tenants, frequently neglects legally-required upkeep and maintenance and actively attempts to suppress tenants&#x27; attempts to organize.<p>In a reasonable market, this landlord would not be permitted to act as a slumlord; his rooms would remain empty, and his reputation would catch up with him. He can only behave this way <i>because</i> city wages don&#x27;t track city rents.<p>The city&#x27;s failure to build housing to meet demand has trapped a not-insubstantial slice of its population in substandard conditions.<p>&gt; ...you&#x27;re forcing someone else to pick up your tab...<p>Last I checked, the cost of durable goods and competent labor hadn&#x27;t more tripled over the past five years. This is to say that the cost of renting a room in a building in SF has <i>far</i> outstripped the <i>actual cost</i> of <i>running</i> that same building in SF over the past five years.<p>I&#x27;m pretty sure that it&#x27;s not <i>me</i> that&#x27;s running up a tab.<p>It&#x27;s abundantly clear that there&#x27;s something rotten in the market, and that it&#x27;s not rent control. :)