Rent control isn't the only thing distorting San Francisco's market. But San Francisco won't get any more affordable until it gives up on the policy. However,

Rent control isn't the only thing distorting San Francisco's market. But San Francisco won't get any more affordable until it gives up on the policy. However, looking at the original post, I strongly suspect that the landlord isn't planning to rent out the apartment after the tenant is evicted. I think the letter looks a lot more like a landlord trying to get out of the business. Rent control, and other regulations, discourage people from offering places for rent. Sometimes that is intentional, for instance, as a policy to get rid of tenements. But often it's a surprise to the people writing the regulations. They honestly don't realize that each additional form they want people to fill out discourages people from being in business in any way. Getting rid of rent control would get rid of some of that disincentive and put some places back on the market. I recently moved from the Reno area to the New York area (well, New Jersey; but I work in New York). I spent a lot of time in the Bay Area over the last few years. I really would like to see it stop pursuing economically backwards policies, but I think it's more likely that economically illiterate politicians will finally manage to kill what makes Silicon Valley unique, and people will move to other places.