There are multiple reports of there being anywhere from 40,000 to 61,000 empty units in SF alone. Make an exorbitant vacancy tax forcing landlords to make those units available, and voila, the purported housing shortage you write about disappears. The YIMBY "more unit" cry is facile and inaccurate. Capital Market real estate developers are holding units offline to drive rents higher while urban populations--particularly in NYC, SF, and other major metros--flea. Giving more money for new units, subsidized or not, to these same developers/landlords, will simply increase the number of empty units. https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/61000-homes-are-empty-in-san-francisco-report/