Somehow, I get the feeling you believe that during a wartime shortage, the government says, "Okay, everyone who's already been using the thing in question gets

Somehow, I get the feeling you believe that during a wartime shortage, the government says, "Okay, everyone who's already been using the thing in question gets to keep using it forever." But that's not how it works. 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: "There's a shortage of San Francisco housing. First, the military gets what it needs. If there'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."