How San Francisco Rent Control Laws Distort the City's Housing Market and Benefit the Rich

SF Chronicle -- "Well-to-do people are taking advantage of San Francisco's long-protected practice of limiting rent increases to preserve affordable housing by using their cheap apartments as weekend getaways. Attorney Andrew Zacks represents landlords who work with the city to push out these cheaters. He says these tenants are cynically playing the system.

"You have this class of very rich, elite people benefiting from rent control," he said. "They have a good deal on a $500 or $800 place on Nob Hill and they use it as a pied-a-terre when they come into the city."

The situation is so out of whack it has accomplished the nearly impossible - some people are actually feeling sorry for landlords."

HT: Newsalert