The San Francisco magazine that magically shows up for free in my mailbox each month addressed "affordable housing" in its November issue.  "Affordable housing" was also a prominent topic at the City Council installation and rotation on Monday night with mention of Lots F and N where our city officials think we should be getting into the housing business.  But back to the SF Magazine.  Here is the start of the article on page 76:

Have you heard?  It's absolutely impossible to buy a home in the Bay Area.  Except people keep buying homes in the Bay Area.  And contrary to popular belief, these home buyers are not all monocle-wearing Monopoly men sporting Uber swag.  Some of them are teachers, hairstylists, social workers, single people, families, people of color, immigrants….

How on earth are they pulling it off? I needed to know.  And more important, I wanted everyone else to know.  Because personally, I'm not a huge fan of hopeless narratives, and our city has a thing for those these days.  So I asked them… they told me (1) they had saved little by little until they had a nest egg big enough to hold a down payment, or (2) how their parents had helpfully lent them (money) or (3) how they'd sold a company or invested in the stock market or (4) bought a tiny condo 10 years ago.

Well this may come as a revelation to the journalist, Erin Feher, but that is exactly how people have been buying into the Bay Area for at least 30 years.  In fact, I would suggest ALL OF THE ABOVE simultaneously.  Does it make buying easy–not exactly, but it does make it work.  And I speak from experience of doing 1, 2, 3 and 4– some of them more than once.  It would be great if Erin wrote the same piece every other month and those who think they can build or rent control their way to housing nirvana read it every other month until they get it.