To the degree that there&#x27;s a fixed amount of housing (or, more accurately, a supply of housing that isn&#x27;t increasing at a rate sufficient to meet demand), it isn&#x27;t. The only question is who gets to live in that housing and how much they pay for it.<p>People who live in very expensive real estate that they own already have the option to take their profits and move to Las Vegas or wherever. However, I&#x27;m very hesitant to say that property taxes are a legitimate lever to force people out of their homes for the benefit of tech workers moving to  California. Especially given that 50% or more of property taxes go to school services which longtime owners aren&#x27;t even using.<p>Perhaps the rate of allowable property tax increase in California should be larger than it is or there should be other changes--including making it possible to build more housing--but we should be skeptical of policies that systematically force long-term residents to move away.