I think at least the housing policy is an egregious failure (if a metric is that locals should be able to afford it), although other cities around the bay area

I think at least the housing policy is an egregious failure (if a metric is that locals should be able to afford it), although other cities around the bay area should also get some credit. Even if you take being anti-development as reasonable, creating office space (jobs) without proportionate housing just seems like an inevitable disaster (unless you sell your property and/or are a landlord). At least the democrats here aren't monolithic, there are frequent initiatives at the local or state level to increase the supply but they've (sometimes narrowly) lost. Also some of California's unusual policies (like the special property tax system and very high income tax) are actually due to a political system where ballot initiatives have more influence and weren't top-down planned by the legislature to begin with. Anyway, yeah it does seem self evident. I think San Francisco is somewhat extreme relative to the national level though.