The reason to care is that in the current American economy there is an agglomeration effect in large "superstar" cities that causes wages to be significantly higher than in other parts of the country. This impact is seen to an even stronger degree in SF/The Bay Area due to it being the center of the US Tech Industry, arguably America's most successful industry.
Due to the extremely poor housing/development policies of SF/The Bay Area rather than most of the impact going to the actual people doing the work the gains are going to landlords and other land owners. This is a huge waste of potential with a fairly obvious solution that, for various reasons, our local politics is unable to fix.
It also has the added negative effect of keeping a lot of people from moving to the city and accessing these gains.
In addition, as other's have said, this isn't just a SF/Bay Area problem but also a problem in many other American cities. I think there is a good argument to be made that overly restrictive local zoning policies is one of the larger negative forces on American family's prosperity happening right now.
Due to the extremely poor housing/development policies of SF/The Bay Area rather than most of the impact going to the actual people doing the work the gains are going to landlords and other land owners. This is a huge waste of potential with a fairly obvious solution that, for various reasons, our local politics is unable to fix.
It also has the added negative effect of keeping a lot of people from moving to the city and accessing these gains.
In addition, as other's have said, this isn't just a SF/Bay Area problem but also a problem in many other American cities. I think there is a good argument to be made that overly restrictive local zoning policies is one of the larger negative forces on American family's prosperity happening right now.