Somehow, I get the feeling you believe that during a wartime shortage, the government says, &quot;Okay, everyone who&#x27;s already been using the thing in question gets to keep using it forever.&quot; But that&#x27;s not how it works.<p>In actual wartime, the item in question gets rationed. To the extent that the metaphor could even apply to housing, it would work like this: &quot;There&#x27;s a shortage of San Francisco housing. First, the military gets what it needs. If there&#x27;s anything left, you have to share with everyone else. No hoarding. Each citizen will get a book of 5 ration tickets per year. Each ticket entitles you to spend one week in San Francisco housing. Some tickets will only be valid in even-numbered months; some, odd-numbered.&quot;