News: San Francisco
Filter
During a pair of public hearings this month, the Mountain View City Council scrapped a number of bad rental housing proposals.
At the first meetings, Oct. 19, the council rejected a moratorium on rent increases, rent control and just-cause for eviction.
The 5-2 decision came after nearly seven hours of presentations, public testimony and council discussion.
Darren Carrington, senior vice president at Prometheus Real Estate Group, said the proposals won’t address the root of the problem — the city’s housing shortage.
“Everyone agrees demand far outweighs supply,” Carrington said, according to this San Jose Business Journal article. “This is the… Read More
Since July 2014, San Francisco has seen 33 Ellis Act eviction notices, according to the Rent Board. This marks a steep decline in use of the Ellis Act.
Month
Ellis eviction notices
Jan. 2015
4
Dec. 2014
17
Nov. 2014
8
Oct. 2014
1
Sept. 2014
0
Aug. 2014
1
July 2014
2
As expected, a bill that would hinder a landlord’s right to take rental units off the market in San Francisco advanced from the Judiciary Committee this week. It next goes to the Senate floor.
SB 1439 by state Senator Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, would undermine the Ellis Act, a 1985 law that bars local governments from making landlords stay in the rental housing business.
The Ellis Act especially protects owners of rental properties in rent controlled cities, where landlords can find themselves operating at a loss.
On Monday, Leno’s bill passed the Judiciary Committee by a 5 to 2 vote… Read More
Tagged: AdvocacyEllis ActLegislation
The California Apartment Association has written a letter to Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, detailing several defects in his anti-Ellis Act bill before he presents it to an Assembly committee next week.
Passed by the state Legislature in 1985, California’s Ellis Act says no local government can require that a rental property owner continue to offer his or her housing for rent. Ammiano’s bill, which would gut the act, goes before the Assembly Committee on Local Government on Wednesday, April 23.
At its core, Assembly Bill 2405 would keep contested Ellis Act evictions stuck in the court system for years on end… Read More
Tagged: AdvocacyEllis ActLegislation
State Sen. Mark Leno needs to address apartment industry concerns about his anti-Ellis Act bill, which could lock San Francisco landlords into the rental housing business for years on end, even if they’re losing money.
Those instructions came from the Transportation and Housing Committee, which narrowly approved Leno’s SB 1439 on Tuesday by a 6 to 4 vote with one abstention.
The close decision came after the California Apartment Association, a San Francisco landlord and others offered compelling testimony against the legislation. About 150 opponents of the bill crowded the committee hearing room.
“The comments by legislators today and the… Read More
Tagged: Ellis ActLegislation
A bill that could strip San Francisco landlords of their freedom to leave the rental housing business heads to a key senate committee next month.
On Tuesday, April 8, state Sen. Mark Leno’s SB 1439 goes before the Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing.
SB 1439 is a direct assault on the Ellis Act, a law passed in 1985 that bars local governments from making landlords stay in the rental housing business.
Ellis especially protects owners of rental properties in rent controlled cities, where landlords can find themselves operating at a loss.
Under Leno’s bill, San Francisco would be authorized… Read More
Tagged: AdvocacyEllis ActLegislation
Overall, San Francisco rents were up 2.74 percent last year, but not every neighborhood contributed to that statistic, according to the real estate website Zumper.
In some areas of San Francisco, rent prices were either flat or veered the other direction.
Check out the color-coded map with this BusinessInsider.com article.
It shows rents spiking dramatically in some neighborhoods, such as Soma and Bernal Heights, but decreasing in other parts of The City. The Financial District, for example, dropped more than 10 percent in rents, according to the map.
But much of the media talk centers instead on rents in traditionally… Read More
Tagged: Rental Prices
AB 2405 (Ammiano, D-San Francisco)
This bill would convert all Ellis Act court filings to general civil actions; they would not fall under the usual expedited unlawful detainer eviction process as they now do. This means that Ellis Act proceedings if challenged by a tenant in court would take years to finalize. The clerk of the court would be prohibited from allowing the general public to access the court records filed in the Ellis Act civil case. The bill will also allow a city or county to completely prohibit use of the Ellis Act by owners if the city or… Read More
Tagged: Ellis Act
Mellie Malcolmson was born in New Mexico and came to San Francisco at the end of the Second World War. She met her husband soon after arriving in The City, and they were married in 1962.
In 1965, Mellie and her husband bought a small, four-unit property on the 1100 block of Filbert Street in the Russian Hill neighborhood and planted roots. The Malcolmsons raised their son, James, on the third floor of their building on Filbert Street, where Mellie continues to live, and relied on the rent from the other apartments for their mortgage. James has lived his entire… Read More
For most folks, if they hate their job, or it just doesn’t pay enough, they can always quit.
But what if you’re a landlord?
It’s not easy, and if San Francisco politicians and at least one tenant advocacy group have their way, landlords will face more hurdles and costs if they try.
In their sights is the Ellis Act, which provides limitations on what a local government can require of property owners who wish to end their rental housing business.
What you’re unlikely to hear in the media is that the Ellis Act and local ordinances like one in San… Read More