Update On Tenant Eviction Protection

Since March when shelter in place kicked off, many residents panicked that they'd lose their homes after losing their jobs. The city and state greatly helped out, assuring residents that they'd not be evicted for failure to pay rent. As the months progressed, the laws were adapated to protect tenants. Today, an amendment in tenant protection has been posted - we're copying and pasting the entire update. We cannot afford to have any more people homeless so please read, and share, and then share again. Thank you.

Tenant Rights Link:

About the COVID-19 emergency tenant protections

If you can pay your rent, you should do so. However, if you cannot pay and your landlord tries to evict you, these protections may safeguard you against eviction.

What to know

These government actions are difficult to understand: if you need legal advice about a specific situation, you should contact an attorney or the Eviction Defense Collaborative at (415) 659-9184 or legal@evictiondefense.org. You can also contact the Rent Board, a mediator, or a tenant counselor for more information.

Please keep in mind, rent is still owed – it has not been forgiven or cancelled. You should respond to any nonpayment notice from a landlord within 15 days, and you should pay at least 25% of the rent due each month between September 1 and January 31. You can either pay 25% each month or make a lump-sum payment before January 31.

Mayor Breed’s Order was the first to establish emergency tenant protections during COVID-19. Mayor Breed extended this Order on August 25. The rules and regulations for this Order are available here. A complete summary of local, state, and federal emergency tenant protections can be found here.

 

I could not pay rent between March 1 - August 31, 2020

AB-3088 prohibits evictions for nonpayment of rent for these months. The landlord cannot evict, but can take the tenant to small claims court starting March 1, 2021 for any rent that is still unpaid. AB-3088 requires the tenant to provide landlord a signed declaration in response to 15-day notice. There are special rules for high-income tenants.

Ordinance No. 93-20 also prohibits evictions for nonpayment of rent, but only applies to rent that fell due March 16 – September 30 (it does not apply to rent that fell due between March 1 – 15). Ordinance No. 93-20 does not have a 15-day notice or eligibility requirement, but the tenant must show documentation of hardship to the court, if sued.

 

I cannot pay rent between September 1, 2020 and January 31, 2021

Ordinance No. 93-20 prohibits evictions for nonpayment of rent that fell due during September 2020. It does not apply to unpaid rent from October 1 or later. Ordinance No. 93-20 only requires the tenant to show documentation of hardship to the court, if sued.

For rent due between September – January 2021, AB-3088 prohibits evictions for nonpayment of rent until February 1, 2021, and allows the landlord to take the tenant to small claims court starting March 1, 2021 for any rent that is still unpaid. AB-3088 requires the tenant to give the landlord signed declaration(s) in response to 15-day notice(s), AND by January 31, 2021 to pay at least 25% of the missed rent from September – January rents (can be lump-sum); special rules apply for high-income tenants.

 

There are currently no eviction protections after January 31, 2021.

I could not pay rent before March 1, 2020

CDC Order prohibits evictions for almost any reason until January 1, 2021. There are exceptions.

All adults in household must provide a signed declaration to the landlord. There are income and other eligibility requirements.

For more information, visit the National Housing Law Project’s website.

Can I be evicted even if I am paying my rent in full?

Evictions for reasons other than nonpayment can proceed only if necessary due to violence, threat of violence, health/safety issues, or Ellis Act. However, this limit on evictions is set to expire on November 30, 2020. Starting December 1, evictions not based on unpaid rent may proceed subject to the City’s Rent Ordinance.

The CDC Order prohibits nearly all evictions for covered tenants until January 1, 2021, and allows a declaration to be provided to the landlord at any time (more information is available here).

Your rent cannot be increased if you live in a City-regulated or a rent-controlled unit

If you live in a unit regulated by the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development or the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, your rent cannot be increased until November 1, 2020.

If you live in a rent-controlled unit, your rent cannot be increased until October 21, 2020. Click here for more information about the temporary rent freeze emergency legislation.

Get help

Financial assistance is available through the City’s Give2SF Housing Stabilization Program. Funding is limited and we are providing financial assistance based on each applicant’s vulnerability relative to other applicants.

Tenant counseling

• Bill Sorro Housing Program (BiSHoP)
  Call or email at (415) 513-5177 or info@bishopsf.org
  Languages: English, French, Spanish, Tagalog
• Causa Justa::Just Cause
  Call or email at (415) 487-9203 or info@cjjc.org
  Languages: Spanish, English
• Chinatown Community Development Center
  Call at (415) 984-2728
  Languages: Cantonese, Mandarin, English
• Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco
  Call Mission Office at (415) 703-8644 or Richmond Office at (415) 947-9085
  Languages: Mission Office: English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Spanish;
  Richmond: Cantonese, Mandarin, English, Russian
• SF Tenants Union
  Call or email (415) 282-6622 or info@sftu.org
• South of Market Community Action Network
  Call or email at (760) 913-8913 or tenantcounseling@somcan.org
  Languages: English, Spanish, Tagalog
• Tenderloin Housing Clinic
  Call (415) 885-3286 or email  allyn@thclinic.org
  Languages: English, Spanish

Counseling for residential hotel (SRO) tenants

• Central City SRO Collaborative
  Call (415) 775-7110
• La Voz Latina
  Call (415) 983-3970
• Chinatown SRO Collaborative or SRO Families United Collaborative
  Call (415) 984-2730
• Mission SRO Collaborative
  Call  (415) 282-6209 ext. 150 

Legal help for tenants

• Eviction Defense Collaborative
  Call or email (415) 659-9184 or legal@evictiondefense.org

Mediation (available to tenants and landlords)

• Bar Association of San Francisco Conflict Intervention Service
  Call or email (415) 782-8940 or cis@sfbar.org

General information for tenants

• Visit the San Francisco Anti-Displacement Coalition’s website 

Counseling at the San Francisco Rent Board (available to tenants and landlords)

• Call (415) 252-4631, Monday-Friday, 9 am – 12 pm and 1 pm – 4 pm

Resources for landlords

• Bar Association of San Francisco Conflict Intervention Service
  Call or email (415) 782-8940 or cis@sfbar.org
• San Francisco Apartment Association
  Call (415) 255-2288 or visit their contact page to reach out via email

 

Affordable Housing Returns To San Francisco

According to Zumper, rental prices in San Francisco have returned to their 2014 rates. In 2012, the tenancy prices in our gorgeous city started to rocket as the tech industry flooded in droves, resulting in thousands of existing tenants to be illegally evicted. So today, in 2020 due to Covid-19 and the tenancy exodus to cheaper abodes, more reasonable rental rates are starting to rear their head once again. What a relief!

What transpires from reduced and less excessive home prices, comes diversity of unique individuals that once adorned the the city by the bay. San Francisco is screaming for this long lost diversity.

Many of us have sat in despair watching hoodies invade our city, outrageously priced gentrified restaurants pop up, 50,000 more cars on the street due to peer-to-peer ride sharing rocketing pedestrian accidents & deaths three times more than any other city in the USA, and traditional craftsman homes being ripped apart and 'modernized.' We crave to see people once again in rainbow pajamas and tiaras walking around the park, just singing along and minding their own business. We want to see more skateboards, roller blades, bicycles blowing liquid bubbles out a tube so kids can pop them as they fly by. That's what San Francisco is about. The color, the originality, the 'you never know who's in costume or if that's how they really dress' curiosity.

So many have suffered from Covid-19 yet good must always come from bad. San Francisco's past decade homeless crisis has been one of the top three worst in our nation, a result of the tech influx. With property prices dropping like flies, more people can afford to live here. More people can afford to enjoy our city that offers cheap and authentic street burritos, a million and one free events that keep us all entertained and thankfully, return to San Francisco once again.

With the recent news (which we published last week) of Proposition C that taxes the wealthiest of wealthy, in order to support the homeless, and even more recent alerts about San Francisco's leaders turning discarded hotels into homes for the poverty, the tables are rapidly turning whereby the ones with little cash in their bank account are winning.

SF CARES has advocated for the needy for well over three decades, and we're ecstatic that the ones that need the most support, are receiving it. We're delighted that our city is now becoming more affordable again so diversity can leap in abundance. And we're elated that the poverty and hard workers that live month to month will soon see their suffering as a problem of the past. The Mission district will once again sport phenomenal artwork on street walls, there will be no more construction of expensive condos and our homeless numbers will finally start to dip downwards.

So for the ones that left their heart in San Francisco when 7 miles x 7 miles outpriced them, we welcome your return with open arms.

 

 

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

 

 

SF Measure Taxing Wealthy Businesses For Homeless Services Becomes Law

Here's some good news! So good that instead of writing a summary, we're simply copying and pasting from KPIX CBS 5 Bay Area's article:

SF Measure Taxing Wealthy Businesses For Homeless Services Becomes Law; State Supreme Court Denies Challenge

Prop C, the 2018 initiative that taxes wealthy San Francisco businesses to pay for homeless services, became law Wednesday after the California Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge to it.

Prop C, which implements a .5% tax on businesses making over $50 million a year, passed in 2018 with more than 61 percent of the vote.

But the law’s been held up in the courts by lawsuits filed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, the anti-tax lobbyists. The group claimed that the tax needed two-thirds of the vote to pass, but the state court of appeals rejected this argument back in June.

Now that the state supreme court refused to hear the case, the city can collect an estimated $300 million in fees for services supporting San Francisco’s homeless population.

And the news doesn't stop so to keep the congratulations coming, please click this link to KQED's longer article on this same topic.

The meek will inherit the earth and the wealthy will fall on their own sword. Let the good times start to roll...

Utility & Service Companies - How To Cut The Cost

We came across a recent utility bill that should not have been sent to us since we suspended services months earlier. We've kept on top of this issue and demanded refunds but we wanted to ensure you're aware of what's transpiring: Utility companies are auto charging without providing a service. It's the oldest revenue trick in the book because people don't check their bills like they should.

During this pandemic, office have closed down so utility and service bills should simultaneously have been cut to a minimum from less use. But this isn't the case and these corporations are using this time to boost their business model by charging for services they're not providing.

With one company trying to bill us monthly for no services rendered, we shut off auto pay and demanded a full refund for one month owed. They refused to comply until we emailed the CEO. Within minutes, we were given an apology and a justified refund check.

But what if you're not even screening your bills, your auto pay set ups and assuming that these companies need to be paid regardless of whether you receive minimal or no service? 

We urge you to take this issue head on. Companies making big cash during a pandemic is horrifying in itself. Taking advantage of panicked customers is not the way you should be treated. Please check through every single bill you've incurred since mid March. If you have auto pay, maybe suspend this until you're up and running again since it's easier to dispute an invoice than try gain a refund. If the utility, trash or service company has a statement on their website that all services are suspended due to shelter in place, yet you've still been charged, screenshot the web page and demand a full refund. Not a credit to your account - but an entire refund check by mail. Not a mailed refund in two weeks - a refund by check in the mail TODAY.

Cash is really tight so paying what you justifiably used is deemed the norm. But being charged an arm and a leg for services you did not receive since March is illegal.

Utility and service companies generate billions of cash in revenue per year. Their business model is based on people forgetting to turn auto pay off, or not checking their bill's accuracy, or using scare threaten tactics over hidden fees. If businesses go down the drain, the homeless population increases. We cannot afford to see this happen. Every penny counts.

Please be sensible and check the past six months of bills or you're literally throwing money in the trash, which the garbage company won't collect but will nevertheless auto charge you. And if you're in a tight financial spot at home, please complete this form to receive utility bill reductions for your house.

 

 

Negotiate Rent With Landlords To Reduce Homeless Stats

In the past month alone, articles have been popping up like spring daisies about tenants that have re-negotiated rent with their landlord. Let's back-peddle first with some background history: Since March when shelter in place started, thousands lost their jobs and couldn't pay April's rent. If they couldn't pay April's rent, then they had a nightmare trying to pay subsequent rents and so the amount owed to landlords (today) adds up to a walloping six months if September's check isn't handed to the property owner or manager. Due to local leaders empathy, eviction freezes took place, giving panicked residents time to scramble for 1st month cash or consider leaving the city for good. The problem was that this legislation only covered suffering tenants until yesterday, 1st September. Nevertheless, the law has extended until December yet it comes with conditions. You can read more about it in the San Francisco Public Press. 

One thing that most tenants (residential AND commercial) didn't consider during their near 1st month frenzy of coughing up cash or finding a new home was the opportunity to re-negotiate rental rates with their landlords. We know it sounds strange since a (lease) deal is a deal, but what about those tenants that could pay 80% rent yet didn't want the burden on their heads to one day pay the 20% owed? Tenants took their own initiative, spat out a bit of gumption laden with common sense and bartered a deal with their landlords. Residents knew that if they left, the landlord would have multiple problems on their hands: #1 An empty property that may not result in new tenants, since so many were leaving the city, #2 Plunging property prices by nearly 20% in the past month alone and continuing to plummet, #3 Safety and security issues since an empty apartment is a cat call for squatters. These are the three main issues yet there are half a dozen more.

So residential tenants talked with their landlords and arranged a new six-month lease whereby they'd honor to continue renting, yet with a 20% discount that wouldn't be repaid once the half year was up. By using this elbow grease of logic, pretty much everyone wins - landlords aren't out of pocket, tenants aren't out of a home and the homeless numbers don't rise.

Commercial tenants also followed a similar rule of thumb yet with a twist: The cost of packing their office furniture in a commercial storage unit + hiring a moving company to store items (and deliver them once a new office is secured, post Covid-19) became so much more attractive than paying rent + overheads. Therefore, commercial tenants took the leap of faith, explained this to their landlords and re-negotiations of rent were set in stone for the short term, with a lease number that swung anywhere between the storage costs vs current office rates. This has slowed down the most depressing sight that no one wants to witness: For Lease signs in windows of every other building.

Our biggest feat is to stop the number of homeless rising, especially during a pandemic. Using our noodles, simply calculating the benefits to both landlord and tenant, and producing a very simple 'this is what I can afford over the next six months' can result in a major win/win...and avoid more displaced people on our streets. Please spread the word with friends or family who are struggling with office or home rent. It's important we support each other since positive knowledge benefits everyone.