If 10s of thousands of people are moving to an area, there is easily a way to build enough housing.
All you have to do is build more than 10s of thousands of apartments.
This really isn't that hard. Just pick a small 1 square mile area in a singular section of your city and say "THIS is the high density zone. Anyone can build any amount of 20-30 story buildings."
And then you simply keep zone laws the same in all the other "low" density areas.
Everyone wins. The new people who are moving to a city get their apartments, and the suburban people can keep their yards.
This is what's happening in SF. The eastern side of the city is the high-density zone, and as prices get higher and higher, it's pushing farther west, into Cole Valley and the central Mission.
What's stopping the process is (a) rent-controlled tenants occupying buildings built before the time rent control no longer applies, and (b) prop 13. Both give people very strong incentives not to move.
All you have to do is build more than 10s of thousands of apartments.
This really isn't that hard. Just pick a small 1 square mile area in a singular section of your city and say "THIS is the high density zone. Anyone can build any amount of 20-30 story buildings."
And then you simply keep zone laws the same in all the other "low" density areas.
Everyone wins. The new people who are moving to a city get their apartments, and the suburban people can keep their yards.