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By David Fix
January 31, 2008
Dear SPOSF Member:
Please join SPOSF, Plan C and the SF TIC coalition for a rally to support
condominium conversion reform! On February 6th the City will hold its annual
condominium conversion lottery. This year, we’re using this once-a-year
opportunity to show our dissatisfaction with an outdated process that
unfairly penalizes first time homeowners!
We'll meet on the City Hall steps starting at 8:15 a.m. on Wednesday,
February 6. Just before 9 a.m., we'll walk together to Room 400 where the
lottery is held. On the way, we'll also walk to the Board of Supervisors'
offices to leave petitions asking for condo conversion reform.
We need to let City officials know how many of you are waiting patiently
through a process that takes too long to complete. As the results shown
below make obvious, with only 200 "winning" units each year, the odds of
winning have gotten steadily worse.
Year - Units Applied
2003 - 994
2004 - 1405
2005 - 1512
2006 - 1652
2007 - 1736
Because the number of units entered goes up each year, the backlog of units
seeking conversion keeps growing. New applicants can now expect to wait
10-12 years or more before winning the right to own their home as a
condominium. Condo conversion reform is needed now more than ever!
The opponents of condo conversion reform argue that larger numbers of
conversions would lead to more evictions and less rental stock. We don't
agree. Consider the following:
Evictions are no longer an issue. In May 2006, San Francisco passed a law
that banned all condo conversions in buildings with more than one "no fault"
eviction (such as Ellis Act evictions or "owner move-in" evictions), and in
buildings with evictions of "protected" tenants (elderly, disabled and
catastrophically ill tenants). In the past, opponents of condo conversion
reform argued that if condo conversions were easy, evictions would result.
With the 2006 eviction legislation in effect, this argument no longer holds
water.
In any case, evictions are down significantly. Evictions were down in 2007
over the prior year, and they are down over 60% from their peak during the
dot-com boom of the late 1990s.
According to the San Francisco Business Times, 7770 units of housing were
under construction in San Francisco during 2007. These units are scheduled
for completion either this year or next and include 2052 units offered as
rentals -- 717 categorized as affordable.
The rental stock is being lost anyway! Strict limits on condo conversion
aren't preventing loss of “rental stock” because rental stock is being
converted to ownership units through TIC creation regardless (and that’s a
good thing!).
Please join us at 8:15 on February 6 at City Hall.
And lastly, please click here to send an email to the Supervisors, telling
them that condo conversion is needed now!
Thank you,
Please click here to send a message to the Mayor and Supes!
Mayor Gavin Newsom
gavin.newsom@sfgov.org
Ph. 554-6141
Jake.McGoldrick@sfgov.org
Ph. 554-7410
Michela.Alioto-Pier@sfgov.org
Ph. 554-7752
Aaron.Peskin@sfgov.org
Ph. 554-7450
Carmen.Chu@sfgov.org
Ph. 554-7460
Ross.Mirkarimi@sfgov.org
Ph. 554-7630
Chris.Daly@sfgov.org
Ph. 554-7970
Sean.Elsbernd@sfgov.org
Ph. 554-6516
Bevan.Dufty@sfgov.org
Ph. 554-6968
Tom.Ammiano@sfgov.org
Ph. 554-5144
Sophie.Maxwell@sfgov.org
Ph. 554-7670
Gerardo.Sandoval@sfgov.org
Ph. 554-6975
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