While the desire may be rational, believing society can make this desire can come true is probably not rational.
At some point, you run out of places to put all the people who want to live in a given place. You have to have some way of deciding who gets to live there, and to be honest, "blood right" doesn't do it for me.
San Francisco does things to make the desire even less rational, in the name of maintaining civic character and political status quo. Not just building restrictions, but management of core services (particularly transit).
It's hellaciously expensive to live in Manhattan, but viable for many low-wage workers with jobs in Manhattan to live in NY Metro.
