An AI boom is sending San Francisco rents through the roof: ‘nowhere left for people to go’

According to city’s rent board, eviction notices are up 44% and tenants are on edge over landlords swooping in over their homes To say that Maria Zamudio and her team have been busy lately would be a gross understatement. Every Monday at 9am, the phone lines at the downtown clinic of San Francisco’s Housing Rights Committee start ringing, and they keep ringing until closing at 5 pm.

In-person counseling appointments for renters facing eviction or landlord misconduct fill days in advance. After every weekend, the staff of seven sits in their office and sifts through more than 150 voicemails. The rental assistance hotline averages 200 calls a week. “Our clinic is completely at capacity,” said Zamudio, the non-profit’s executive director. San Franciscans have long been squeezed by high rents.

The pressure spikes during the city’s legendary boom periods and is worsened by its struggle to build enough affordable housing. Now, the AI industry – with its high salaries and the astronomical paydays it promises shareholders when firms go public – is pushing rents higher still. Today, the average one-bedroom in…