<i>There are literally not enough apartments for the people who want to come into the city</i><p>&quot;Want to come into the city&quot; isn&#x27;t a yes&#x2F;no proposition.  How much are those people willing to pay to come into the city?<p>I&#x27;m sure there are plenty of people who are living in SF right now who are not willing to pay $3000 to live there.  Lucky for them, they don&#x27;t have to, because their rent is controlled at a lower price than that.<p>In a free rental market, you would see some current SF residents leave because they&#x27;re not willing to pay market rates, but the market rate would drop as a result.  In other words, long time residents would move out to make space for the people who want to move in and are willing to pay for the privilege.