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Help us bring the issues of rent control to the national stage.
March 1, 2005
On January 14, The SPOSF Institute, along with San Francisco Apartment Association, California Apartment Association, and San Francisco Association of Realtors filed an amicus brief in the Lingle v. Chevron case that was argued on February 22 at the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Lingle case represents a seismic shift in the battle to protect our property rights. Lingle involves an unconstitutional "Taking" under the Fifth Amendment. And the implications for rent control are far reaching.
In Lingle, the state of Hawaii is challenging a ruling by the Federal Ninth Circuit that declared rent control for gas stations unconstitutional. Following that trail-blazing decision, rent control for mobile homes was also ruled unconstitutional in the case of Cashman v. City of Cotati.
As attorney Paul F. Utrecht wrote in our brief, "The consequences of the constitutional issue are best illustrated by the millions of property owners who are targeted by cities and states to pay the costs of public goods that should be borne by the public as a whole. The vast majority of property owners cannot protect themselves in the political process and are, accordingly, targeted by cities and states to pay for problems that they did not cause and did not exacerbate."
The U.S. Supreme Court has also agreed to hear San Remo v. San Francisco, which will be argued in late March. In the San Remo case, a local hotel was hit with over a half million-dollar "fee" for wanting to rent to tourists. When the case went to federal court, the hotel owners were told to seek compensation in state court first, only to have the federal court rule that federal claims are barred by the state court decision. You can follow this Byzantine 15-year saga in the successful petition for writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court asking them to take the case, in a news release about our brief, and in the amicus brief filed by the Washington Legal Foundation for the Institute along with other property rights organizations.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TREMENDOUS SUPPORT
Our thanks to the nearly 300 SPOSF members to date who have sent donations to the Institute. We are truly gratified and impressed by your response, both by your financial contribution and by the many notes your sent. This outpouring is stark evidence of not only the frustration of small property owners who find it increasingly difficult to be a housing provider in San Francisco, but also their determination to fight back. We are just beginning an ongoing legal and educational battle to preserve our property rights, publicize our plight and reverse the erosion in the control of our homes. To all those who gave, thank you! To those who haven't, please consider doing so today. If we don't speak up and fight for our rights, who will?
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