PRICE OF SUCCESS?

“Is success spoiling San Francisco?” That’s the question posed in a Chronicle article written during the 1980s’ economic boom. Richard LeGates, head of S.F. State’s urban studies program, warned the “city may be pricing out its janitors, its teachers, its nurses and its gas-station attendants the way Marin County already has.” LeGates continues: “there’s a tremendous social cost of pricing them out. On a more mundane level, there’s just the texture, the quality of life being made more interesting by a mix of ages and incomes and backgrounds.”

In this issue, we revisit that question and explore what it means to live in San Francisco during the current economic boom. Chronicle urban design critic John King takes a big-picture look at the housing shortage in San Francisco. Lydia Lee talks to the experts about solutions, and then takes us on a tour inside alternative models of living. She also talks with Mark Macy, architect of the city’s first large-scale co-living project. And, Anh-Minh Le visits the classic San Francisco flat, as framed by Lost Art Salon co-owner Rob Delamater.

Finally, September brings the San Francisco chapter of the American Institute of Architects’ Architecture and the City Festival. This year’s theme, fittingly, is Home: My San Francisco. Check out the preview inside, and then tour some of the city’s most innovative houses. The welcome mats are out Sept. 20 and 21.