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From the May 2006 Newsletter:
By David Fix
The Board of Supervisors is at it again. Supervisor Aaron Peskin is sponsoring a piece of legislation again attacking the Ellis Act. While no one likes eviction, it is important to protect our right to control our lives and property.
The proposed legislation would make it impossible to convert a unit to a condominium if there were multiple evictions in the building, i.e. Ellis Act evictions, or if even one senior or disabled person was evicted from the building. The Board cannot eliminate the Ellis Act–it is state law–so this is its attempt to go around it. What is particularly punitive about the proposal is the retroactive portion of the law to 1999!!! Also, the ordinance uses an overly broad definition of “protected tenant,” defining senior” as anyone over 60 who has lived in the unit only one year, or a disabled or catastrophically ill tenant without any residency requirements at all. This is an excessively broad definition of a “protected” class of tenants. For an owner move-in (OMI) eviction, a senior over 60 years of age or disabled tenant must have a 10-year residency, or a catastrophically ill tenant, five years, to be considered protected.”
Anyone who moved into his or her home in the last seven years hoping to condo-convert would be excluded from ever being able to enter the condo lottery. Many of these homeowners may not even have been aware of the eviction of a senior or disabled person, especially under this overly broad definition, or of an Ellis eviction in the building. They bought their properties in good faith and broke no laws.
On April 26, the Land Use Committee of the Board of Supervisors held a public hearing on the proposed ordinance. Committee members Maxwell, McGoldrick and Sandoval sent the ordinance to the full board for a vote, mostly ignoring the statements of opponents in attendance. In fact, Supervisor Sandoval stated that the full Board would pass this legislation even before any public statements were made. More than 40 people spoke, pro and con being divided fairly evenly. SPOSF was well represented, as were members of the TIC Coalition and Plan C. The full Board of Supervisors will likely have the first vote on the Peskin ordinance on May 9. After that, there is the second vote and hopefully the Mayor’s veto. We do not know the Mayor’s position on this legislation, so it’s important to contact him. We will keep you informed of the progress of this legislation and the need to speak at any hearings at the Board of Supervisors. It is important to show that this is of concern to San Francisco residents and that it is not just the real estate industry or “speculators” that are opposed. This legislation is targeted at OUR homes, not large buildings.
SPOSF, Plan C, SFSOS, the TIC Coalition, SFAA and other groups are working very hard to defeat this mean-spirited, misguided legislation. We recently met with Supervisor Dufty and representatives from the Mayor’s office and urged them to vote NO. Supervisors Elsbernd, Ma and Alioto-Pier have come out publicly in opposition. All of these groups would like to see the outright defeat of the legislation, but some compromise may occur if significant amendments are made. I have suggested some compromises that would protect our members and TIC owners. We need all of you to contact the Board of Supervisors, the Mayor and the newspapers to let them know that you oppose this legislation. These are the important points to stress in your letter:
• The seven-year retroactive period is unfair.
• The definition of “protected tenant” is overly broad.
• The legislation should apply to “speculators,” not people who have owned their properties for years
• The legislation is likely illegal and will be challenged in the courts, tying up limited city resources.
• The housing of vulnerable tenants is the problem for the city as a whole to grapple with, not a smallgroup of mom-and-pop property owners.
The Ellis Act may not be our primary concern as housing providers–we want to stay in business–but we need to preserve this important state law as an option should our circumstances change.
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