Politics

Senator Leno Introduces Bill to Close Ellis Act Loophole for San Francisco

Published

9 years ago

March 28, 2015

Senator Mark Leno recently introduced new legislation that would help mitigate the negative impacts of Ellis Act evictions in San Francisco. Senate Bill 364 closes a loophole in the Ellis Act that allows speculators to buy rent-controlled buildings in San Francisco and immediately begin the process of evicting long-term renters.

The new bill mirrors SB 1439, which was approved by the Senate last year but fell one vote short in the Assembly Housing Committee. SB 364 is sponsored by San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and Assemblymember David Chiu, D-San Francisco, is a principal co-author of the bill.

“We continue our fight to help alleviate San Francisco’s affordable housing crisis,” said Senator Leno, D-San Francisco. “The Ellis Act is being abused by speculators who are buying up properties, evicting long-term tenants and reselling their buildings for a profit. Left behind are the shattered lives of residents who have deep roots in our communities. This was never how the Ellis Act was intended to be used, and we must act now to protect our unique city from further devastation.”

SB 364 authorizes San Francisco to prohibit new property owners from invoking the Ellis Act to evict tenants for five years after the acquisition of a property. It also ensures that landlords can only activate their Ellis Act rights once and creates penalties for violations of these new provisions.

“We may be making progress in new housing construction in San Francisco, but we must still work to stabilize people in their own homes, in their own neighborhoods, and prevent displacement because of speculative evictions,” said San Francisco Mayor Lee. “My top state legislative priority once again is to partner with Senator Leno to reform the Ellis Act in Sacramento and end speculator evictions in our city. This legislation is good policy, and we are ready to fight this battle with our coalition of tenants, labor and business leaders to support middle income and working families in San Francisco.”

Enacted as state law in 1985, the Ellis Act allows landlords who want to get out of the business to evict tenants and quickly turn buildings into Tenancy In Common (TIC) units for resale on the market.

In San Francisco, the units that are being cleared are rent controlled and home to elderly, disabled and working class Californians. When these affordable rental units are removed from the market, they never return.

A 2014 report from Tenants Together, California’s statewide organization for renters’ rights, revealed that most Ellis Act evictions in San Francisco have been initiated by investors, not landlords. More than 50 percent of the city’s evictions begin within the first year of a property’s ownership, and nearly 80 percent start within the first five years. In addition, a third of all Ellis Act evictions come from investors who have entered and exited the rental business more than once, evicting residents from multiple buildings.

“Ellis Act evictions are devastating to tenants and communities,” said Dean Preston, Executive Director of Tenants Together. “Tenants Together supports this legislative reform to stop unfair evictions by real estate speculators.”

Thousands of units have been taken off the rental market in San Francisco due to Ellis Act evictions, which have occurred simultaneously with huge increases in property values and housing prices.

SB 364 will be heard in policy committees in the Senate this spring.

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Related Topics:Ellis Act Evictions housing Mayor Ed Lee Politics San Francisco Senate Bill 364 Senator Mark Leno

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Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024

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9 hours ago

April 26, 2024

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MAYOR BREED ANNOUNCES $53 MILLION FEDERAL GRANT FOR SAN FRANCISCO’S HOMELESS PROGRAMS

San Francisco, CA – Mayor London N. Breed today announced that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has awarded the city a $53.7 million grant to support efforts to renew and expand critical services and housing for people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco.

Published

6 days ago

April 20, 2024

Oakland Post

Mayor London Breed

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Contact: Mayor’s Office of Communications, mayorspressoffice@sfgov.org

***PRESS RELEASE***

MAYOR BREED ANNOUNCES $53 MILLION FEDERAL GRANT FOR SAN FRANCISCO’S HOMELESS PROGRAMS

HUD’s Continuum of Care grant will support the City’s range of critical services and programs, including permanent supportive housing, rapid re-housing, and improved access to housing for survivors of domestic violence

San Francisco, CA – Mayor London N. Breed today announced that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has awarded the city a $53.7 million grant to support efforts to renew and expand critical services and housing for people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco.

HUD’s Continuum of Care (CoC) program is designed to support local programs with the goal of ending homelessness for individuals, families, and Transitional Age Youth.

This funding supports the city’s ongoing efforts that have helped more than 15,000 people exit homelessness since 2018 through City programs including direct housing placements and relocation assistance. During that time San Francisco has also increased housing slots by 50%. San Francisco has the most permanent supportive housing of any county in the Bay Area, and the second most slots per capita than any city in the country.

“In San Francisco, we have worked aggressively to increase housing, shelter, and services for people experiencing homelessness, and we are building on these efforts every day,” said Mayor London Breed. “Every day our encampment outreach workers are going out to bring people indoors and our City workers are connecting people to housing and shelter. This support from the federal government is critical and will allow us to serve people in need and address encampments in our neighborhoods.”

The funding towards supporting the renewal projects in San Francisco include financial support for a mix of permanent supportive housing, rapid re-housing, and transitional housing projects. In addition, the CoC award will support Coordinated Entry projects to centralize the City’s various efforts to address homelessness. This includes $2.1 million in funding for the Coordinated Entry system to improve access to housing for youth and survivors of domestic violence.

“This is a good day for San Francisco,” said Shireen McSpadden, executive director of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. “HUD’s Continuum of Care funding provides vital resources to a diversity of programs and projects that have helped people to stabilize in our community. This funding is a testament to our work and the work of our nonprofit partners.”

The 2024 Continuum of Care Renewal Awards Include:

$42.2 million for 29 renewal PSH projects that serve chronically homeless, veterans, and youth
$318,000 for one new PSH project, which will provide 98 affordable homes for low-income seniors in the Richmond District
$445,00 for one Transitional Housing (TH) project serving youth
$6.4 million dedicated to four Rapid Rehousing (RRH) projects that serve families, youth, and survivors of domestic violence
$750,00 for two Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) projects
$2.1 million for three Coordinated Entry projects that serve families, youth, chronically homeless, and survivors of domestic violence

In addition, the 2023 CoC Planning Grant, now increased to $1,500,000 from $1,250,000, was also approved. Planning grants are submitted non-competitively and may be used to carry out the duties of operating a CoC, such as system evaluation and planning, monitoring, project and system performance improvement, providing trainings, partner collaborations, and conducting the PIT Count.

“We are very appreciative of HUD’s support in fulfilling our funding request for these critically important projects for San Francisco that help so many people trying to exit homelessness,” said Del Seymour, co-chair of the Local Homeless Coordinating Board. “This funding will make a real difference to people seeking services and support in their journey out of homelessness.”

In comparison to last year’s competition, this represents a $770,000 increase in funding, due to a new PSH project that was funded, an increase in some unit type Fair Market Rents (FMRs) and the larger CoC Planning Grant. In a year where more projects had to compete nationally against other communities, this represents a significant increase.

Nationally, HUD awarded nearly $3.16 billion for over 7,000 local homeless housing and service programs including new projects and renewals across the United States.