Renter`s Voice - Housing Rights Committee

HOUSING RIGHTS COMMITTEE OF SF
FALL 2009
Renter’s Voice
Tenants caught in the
epidemic of foreclosures
In June of
paying the rent, yet
2008, Housthey received an
ing Rights
eviction notice from
counselors
someone who was
started to see
not even their landa new and
lord. Turns out, bedifferent kind
cause they were
of case. Tennever notified about
ants were
the change of ownercoming to our
ship, they continued
office in a
to pay rent to a forpanic because
mer owner who
they learned
fraudulently continthat their
ued to accept it.
by Sara Shortt
landlords’
We started to see
property had been foreclosed.
more and more such cases
Usually, they learned it the
and, as a result, realized that
hard way. Their utilities had
this growing problem needed
suddenly been shut off or a
to be addressed. Tenants are
strange person came to the
innocent bystanders in the
door claiming to be a realtor
mortgage crisis. Yet, their
showing the unit, or their
lives are being impacted as
rent checks were sent back.
more property owners lose
In some of the worst cases,
their buildings, meaning more
tenants were escorted out of
and more banks are becoming
their homes by the police
landlords. While we originally
without any notice, or they
thought this issue would be
were locked out. Some clients
confined to mostly small
came to us extremely conproperties with “mom and
fused because they had been
continued on p.2
Economic relief
for SF tenants!
Pro-tenant Supervisor
Chris Daly (District 6,
Mission/Tenderloin) has
introduced legislation to
give economic relief to
renters in San Francisco.
The package of three
amendments to the city’s
rent control ordinance will,
if passed:
Expand the definition of
hardship so that a tenant
facing a rent increase could
contest it, if
it would
make his/
her rent
more than
33% of his/
her income.
Give tenants the
right to
bring in additional
roommates
to help pay
the rent, even if
(continued on page 4)
Closeup, please!
HRC’s Tommi Avicolli Mecca has made his big-screen debut in Medicine for
Melancholy, a film about gentrification of the African/American community in SF.
Tommi and other HRC counselors appear in a scene in which the main characters
come to a meeting in the Mission about displacement. The scene was shot in our
office. Congrats to Barry Jenkins and all the folks who made this film; it is winning
kudos everywhere, and deservedly so! For more info: www.strikeanywherefilms.com.
Celebrating 30 years of HRCSF, p. 4
HOUSING RIGHTS COMMITTEE OF SF
foreclosures
continued from p.1
Sara Shortt
pop” landlords, we soon learned that the
truth was much worse. Citi Apartments, San
Francisco’s second largest landlord, deeded 51
buildings back to the bank in lieu of foreclosure. The fate of these 1,400 units raised the
alarm about the scope of the rental foreclosure issue. Recently, we’ve learned that foreclosure suits had been filed on 23 more buildings in the Citi portfolio.
We have yet to see what this will mean for the tenants in these
buildings, but what we do know is that banks make bad landlords.
The general practice is simply to evict when they acquire a renteroccupied property through foreclosure. Banks don’t want the
headache of land-lording. They are not set up for it, and they simply don’t want to be bothered with the additional concerns
brought on by operating rental property. Rather than face the
facts of their new role, banks are deflecting, dodging and simply
ignoring their responsibilities as landlords. In SF, we have strong
tenant protections. Unfortunately, most banks are not bothering
to find out what they are before they violate our laws. Here’s what we are working on to stem the tide of foreclosurerelated displacement of renters:
Extending just-cause eviction protection to buildings currently
not covered;
Requiring that lenders register with the City, so that they can be
held accountable to our local laws;
Working with the City Assessor, Phil Ting, to send letters to
tenants in foreclosed properties, advising them of their rights and
resources; and
Working with the Department of Building Inspections and the
City Attorney to ensure that PGE and the PUC follow state law
and do not terminate a tenant’s utility services.
HRCSF has produced a memo about this issue and other info on
foreclosures that provide more detail about the problems and our
efforts to tackle it. You can find it online at:
www.hrcsf.org/building-sale. In addition, there is a federal bill
which aims to bring eviction protections to renters nationwide
(HR1247 Ellison) and two state bills (SB120 and AB603) which will
guarantee that banks return security deposits to tenants. There
are also two new important resources about renters in foreclosure:
CA’s statewide tenant’s group, Tenants Together, has produced a
report about foreclosures and renters in CA:
www.tenantstogether.org. The National Low Income Housing
Coalition issued a report which shows that nearly 40% of foreclosed households are renters. It’s available at: www.nlihc.org.
PAGE 2
FALL 2009
STAFF
415-703-8634
Sara Shortt
Executive Director
[email protected] (x106)
Stephanie Brandon
Lead Housing Counselor
[email protected] (x103)
Carrie Craig
Subsidized Housing Advocate
[email protected] (x108)
Hing-Chee Chan
Office Manager/Organizer (x107)
Tommi Avicolli Mecca
Director of Counseling Program
[email protected] (x102)
Camila Contreras
Volunteer Housing Advocate
[email protected] (x117)
Thanks to our
funders!
Rainbow Grocery
Van Loben Sels Foundation
San Francisco Foundation
Evelyn and Walter Haas,
Jr. Fund
SF Mayor’s Office of
Housing
National Housing Law
Project
Senior Action Network
& all of our generous
individual donors!
HOUSING RIGHTS COMMITTEE OF SF
FALL 2009
Taking advantage of section 8 renters
For tenants in Section 8
housing, one of the
problems that arises often is that they’re told
one thing by their landby Camila Contreras lords and another by the
SF Housing Authority, and they are not given
the resources to easily acquire the correct info.
Navigating SF’s rental laws as well as the regulations that govern the Section 8 program can
be a challenge. As a counselor, I am constantly
surprised by how tenants navigate this system
that often offers little support to face the issues that are common to renters. Section 8
tenants have to deal with private landlords who
often either try to take advantage of a family’s
lack of resources or who simply do not understand what their obligations are under the program. I’ve seen tenants come in with rent increases from landlords that are not valid. It has
also been common for landlords to attempt to
charge for utilities when the Housing Authority has deemed that the tenants do not have to
pay them. Rent increases for units under the
Section 8 program are regulated by the Housing Authority and in some cases by the San
Francisco Rent Ordinance; however, it’s not
made clear that rent increases have to be approved by SFHA and that in certain cases rent
control still applies. It can seem daunting to
challenge rent increases, as the system for rent
calculation for the program seems convoluted
and is not made easily understandable. It seems
problematic that tenants who have their housing subsidized are asked to accept a rent and
commit to a program without a full understanding of what they commit to. The problem
is a lack of resources given to the participants
of Section 8, because there’s an assumption
that this lack of understanding is acceptable.
Since I’ve begun counseling, I’ve been amazed
at the number of tenants who do challenge
that assumption and take the initiative to assert their rights.
HRCSF’s new website
Check out HRCSF’s newly designed website. Go
to www.hrcsf.org and check out our new features:
you can email questions directly to us via your
email program; and there’s an expanded Section
8/public housing section and more features, such
as downloadable PDFs and brochures.
ARE YOU A MEMBER YET?
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PAGE 3
HOUSING RIGHTS COMMITTEE OF SF
SPRING 2009
Economic relief for tenants?
(continued from page 1)
their lease forbids it, as long
as that extra person does not
exceed the limit set by the
Housing Code (which basically allows 2 persons per
bedroom and one in the livingroom).
3. Limit the number of
banked rent increases that
can be imposed in one year. A
landlord would only have the
right to pass on a banked increase of up to 8% in a given
year. Under the rent ordinance, landlords can bank
rent increases they didn’t
take in previous years. At
present, they can bank all the
way back to the beginning of
the tenancy in one lump sum,
if they choose.
--Tommi Avicolli Mecca
Celebrating 30 years of HRCSF
This year marks the 30th year
of Housing Rights as a a leader
in the struggle for tenant
power in San Francisco. Since
we were started by senior renters at Old St Mary’s Church in
1979, we have had many different locations, staff, members
and leaders. But our issues and
our commitment to improving
conditions for renters has
never changed. We have steadily fought to bring housing justice to SF’s renters. Stay tuned
for anniversary events, dates
and information.
Housing Rights Committee of SF
a project of the Tides Center, Inc.
427 South Van Ness
San Francisco, CA 94103
415-703-8634
www.hrcsf.org
Oakland’s just-cause
law is saved!
In a victory for tenants in
Oakland, the California Court
of Appeals recently struck
down a landlord suit against the
city’s just cause provisions,
passed by voters in the
November, 2002 elections. Just
causes include non-payment of
rent, violation of the lease,
damage to the property, etc.
Said City Attorney John Russo,
“This victory is especially
important because it upholds
the rights of tenants--and the
city--to go after the bad actors
who are breaking the law and
putting Oakland families on the
streets.”
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