Condofication: The New Index For Gentrification?

Originally, rent control was seen as a method to preserve affordable rental apartments, but as real estate prices have escalated, "many S.F. residents retain their in-town rent-controlled apartments while buying country homes, thus keeping cheap apartments from people who truly need them."

"Speculators and aspiring home-buyers are lining up to take advantage of the huge gap between the relatively low cash value of rent-controlled apartment buildings and the high value of privately owned apartments."

New legislation to reduce the number of condo conversions, "By reducing the possibility that owners can convert their tenancy-in-common units to condominiums...may actually increase demand for a type of pseudo-condominium loan that allows owners to live in a tenancy-in-common agreement without being tied to their partners financially."

Now, "buying a small apartment building in San Francisco these days only makes financial sense if you're planning to kick out the tenants and create a tenancy in common...Until now, people living in larger apartment buildings have been relatively safe from eviction. That's because it's extremely difficult to round up more than two or three home-buyers to jointly take out a tenancy-in-common loan."