From the May 2009 Newsletter:

Our voice as a small business is being heard
By Noni Richen, SPOSFI President

It may not always be obvious from the frustrated
tone of many of our articles. But we are working
in a systematic way to present ourselves as reasonable
and responsible advocates for a large group of
small business owners who offer a vital service (housing),
yet are forced to operate under extremely prejudicial
circumstances. For example:

• The PLANNING DEPARTMENT is updating the San
Francisco Master Plan’s Housing Element, as it does
every five years. Several SPOSFI members attended a
public outreach meeting in District 5 and three SPOSFI
Board members attended another meeting with city
planners to comment on the effect of rent control on
the housing supply. Our goal is to have a simple but
important statement of fact inserted into the final
Housing Element document:

“San Francisco has pursued housing policies for nearly
40 years that discourage investment in rental property.
City policies need to encourage housing providers
to remain in the rental business and encourage new
investments.”

The first draft of the housing element in no way
questions how city property control policies have caused
thousands of units to remain “vacant by choice.” We
hope that those in the planning process will have the
courage to acknowledge that these units exist.

• The SMALL BUSINESS COMMISSION has invited
SPOSFI to make a presentation as a member of the San
Francisco business community. We will present figures
illustrating the losing battle we fight to stay ahead of
inflation and maintain and improve our properties.
Our goals, more specifically, include fast-tracking of
permits for small rental buildings and a stakeholders’
outreach period before introducing new regulations.
We thank Acting Director Regina Dick-Endrizzi of the
Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development
for the opportunity to address the Commission.

• We have met with several members of the BOARD
OF SUPERVISORS to explain how legislation recently
introduced by Supervisor Chris Daly would harm both
small rental property owner and renters.

• Our next meeting is with the MAYOR’S OFFICE OF
HOUSING. In all of these conversations we present
ourselves as businesspeoplewho face conditions unlike
those of any other group in San Francisco. To emphasize
the nature of our unique plight, henceforth we
will no longer refer to our rentals as “rent-controlled”
but rather as “owner-subsidized housing,” and ask
that you adopt this term as well. Words have power,
and the use of the term is a simple statement of fact.

• The 2010 SUPERVISOR’S ELECTION: we accepted
an invitation to attend a meeting of the Coalition for
Responsible Growth (CRG), a non-partisan group that,
among other things, supportsmoderate candidates for
political office. CRG feels that by supporting viable
candidates now, we can strengthen their chances and
discourage other less viable moderates from joining
the same race. In the past, we’ve seen too many moderates
lose races by narrow margins because others
diluted the votes of the strongest contender.

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