The author might be making a valid point, but the visualization they chose doesn't match their thesis very well.
Think about it: if the homeowners in SF relent, approve massive housing projects, and decrease the average housing price of SF, then more people will now move into SF and its total real estate price (and hence the size of SF in their visualiztion) will increase.
Not necessarily. SF has a housing shortage. Remembering our basic supply & demand curves, price starts to go up exponentially when demand greatly outstrips supply.
Suppose you met the demand by doubling the supply. Suppose that takes you out of the exponential region, and housing costs drop fourfold. Overall, the market shrinks by half.
Think about it: if the homeowners in SF relent, approve massive housing projects, and decrease the average housing price of SF, then more people will now move into SF and its total real estate price (and hence the size of SF in their visualiztion) will increase.