Assuming you live in the US (SF?) The American story is a story of migrants, whether from other countries or within the nation itself. People move for opportunity (though this is decreasing as the costs have gone up dramatically in the last decade)

Nobody owns the city, the city is a result of the people who live there at any given time. Renters and tourists pay plenty of taxes too, and they aren't riding the real estate lottery wave due to permanent long-time residents fucking everyone else over with zoning rules that are making the prices go insane.