From the June 2010 Newsletter:

Prop. F: unnecessary, hugely bureaucratic, and just plain bad law!

Supervisor Chris Daly is termed out and soon departing San Francisco to live and manage his new rental property in surburban Fairfield, Contra Costa County. But not before the perpetual mischief-maker bids rental property owners a poison-pill farewell in the form of Proposition F. Prop. F is a June 8 ballot measure that would amend the Rent Ordinance, allowing tenants to appeal to the Rent Board for a deferral of rent increases if: 1) they become unemployed, 2) their wages decrease by 20% or more, 3) their rent comprises 33% or more of their gross income, or 4) they don’t receive a cost of living increase in their government benefits, and those benefits are their sole income.

Supervisor Daly, with much help and encouragement from the S.F. Tenants Union, chose to sponsor this legislation despite a host of contrary facts:

• The Rent Board’s Maximum Allowable Rent Increase for 2010-2011 is near zero (0.1%)—its lowest since Rent Control became San Francisco law in 1979.
• Renters aren’t the only ones hurting in these tough economic times. Property owners are hurting, too.
• The Rent Board has gone on record opposing Prop. F.
• Prop. F would have a number of unintended consequences, including protecting high-income renters (see cartoon above) whose income has dropped 20% but still have very substantial incomes (e.g., a decline from $200,000 to $160,000).
• Prop. F would give property owners an incentive to rent only to the financially well off, hurting the very tenants it purports to want to help.

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