Let's be clear about our terms here. The articles in the OP appear to be strictly discussing the City of San Diego. The City of San Diego is a drop in the bucke

Let's be clear about our terms here. The articles in the OP appear to be strictly discussing the City of San Diego. The City of San Diego is a drop in the bucket compared to the expansive San Diego County. If you're talking about being a "border town" or "metropolis" then you're not talking about the City but the County. San Diego County includes La Jolla and points further north, as well as El Cajon and Jamul and all sorts of suburbs. It's a huge area with many disparate neighborhoods (and even 4 microclimates.) The City of San Diego includes very undesirable neighborhoods such as most of Downtown. There are a lot of places where normal people would have a terrible time, despite still being expensive. But there are also many different parts of the County which are "bad neighborhoods" and upscale places and ethnic enclaves, etc. Honestly, I was a little surprised that these articles are specifically referring to only the City in terms of housing supply. The vast majority of San Diegans don't even live in the city. I mean, it's not as pathological as Los Angeles and its county, but it's an important distinction that's often lost on out-of-towners.