San Francisco is a city rich in culture and history, home to fine restaurants, several museums, music concerts, live theater, more festivals than there are neighborhoods, and a thriving downtown shopping area. There are some here who have even called it "Camelot" because the variety in entertainment, microclimates and population has created a place where anyone can find almost anything they want or need at any given time. For the college student, this is especially advantageous; no matter what field is being studied, there is probably going to be a live exhibit or working example of it in this extremely diverse city, and usually at a relatively low cost. Additionally, for the middle-income person this would seem to be a good area to live, especially if they want to be around culture and the arts. Many families would also like to make San Francisco their home so that their children can grow up in a culturally diverse city and take full advantage of all that it has to offer. There are, after all, many relatively inexpensive places to go and things to do, from watching live music for no more than a drink or two at a pub, to enjoying Golden Gate Park, to attending movie festivals at the Red Vic on the Haight. For all these reasons, people come here from all over the world, to be able to experience the magic that is San Francisco.
Unfortunately, the city of San Francisco is surrounded on three sides by water, and like New York, is limited in area. This means space -- residential, commercial and public -- is extremely limited creating a rental market that is skyrocketing out of control. However, while some have blamed the influx of "dot-com-ers" for driving up the price of rent, others point to anti-growth neighborhood associations which have limited the construction or reconstruction of housing in their neighborhoods (Smith, 2002). Yet, for whatever reason, the problem remains that rents are spiraling out of reach for up to 40% of...