patrick.net

Aimee Server doesn't want to stay in San Francisco, but she can't leave.

"If I move out of this place, I probably won't be able to come back to the city. I won't be able to afford it," Server said. The 42-year-old has lived in a two-bedroom, rent-controlled apartment for three years.

She'd like to escape the city for a spell, to travel and teach English in a foreign country.

"If I returned [to San Francisco], I could get my job back," she said. But a below market-rate apartment in the heart of the city? "I don't think so."

In an expensive place like San Francisco, affordable monthly rent – by most residents' standards, "affordable" means below $1,500 – can feel like "golden handcuffs."