Eviction

San Francisco clamped down on fraudulent owner move-in evictions Tuesday and after a six-month debate adopted new affordable housing requirements for developers — two issues that began with sharp political division but ended in unanimous votes.

Still, there was a lengthy debate over the details of how to crack down on illegal owner move-in evictions, and a narrow 6-5 vote rejected a tougher restriction on tenant buyout agreements.

As I wrote in the Spring of 2016, grounded for 35 years in the Sunset District, Mariella Morales is braced with Pachamama beliefs from her childhood in Peru, that humans are bound to live in a manner that supports a sustainable future that works for all. Mariella says she will not let the newly-rich displace her from the wooden floors and the backyard earth she and her children have walked on for more than three decades

A change to the city’s rent ordinance aimed at giving tenants protection from unfair evictions is now on hold after landlords submitted a petition to the City Clerk that supports putting the issue on the ballot.

A total of 4,808 of the approximately 7,300 signatures on the petition must be verified as from registered Alameda voters before the City Council can opt to remove the amendment, or ask voters to decide whether it should remain.

If a landlord wants to evict a tenant, the process can be simple. In many cases in Los Angeles, and across California, property owners only have to state they are ending the lease.

No justification is needed — only notices of at least 30 days to provide some time to move out.

Now, amid an affordable housing shortage and reports that low-income tenants are being displaced for wealthier renters, Los Angeles is exploring whether to require landlords to show “just cause” to evict, reasons that would include damaging a unit, creating a nuisance or not paying rent.

Cities Diverge on Housing

Three recently enacted measures have transformed San Francisco into the Bay Area leader for addressing housing affordability. Meanwhile, Berkeley is in full retreat.

At its June 27 meeting, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed two critical pieces of housing affordability legislation. First, it cracked down on owner move in eviction scams by allowing nonprofit enforcement against wrongdoers. Second, it passed the new inclusionary rules that the Board had agreed to earlier in June.

Two apartment buildings condemned by the city of Merced left 32 people on the street this week, according to advocates.

The 12 units were condemned on June 22 because the “complex is deemed substandard and poses an immediate threat to the health and safety of the occupants,” according to notices placed on the unit doors.

In the displaced group were children, seniors and adults, including two pregnant women, advocates said.

A Santa Monica tenant facing an eviction threat after installing a Ring doorbell on her front door will be allowed to stay in her home and keep the device, thanks to an intervention by the CEO of Ring himself.

Ring is a Santa Monica-based home surveillance company lead by Jamie Siminoff. Shortly after the Santa Monica Daily Press published a story about a single mom receiving an eviction notice for installing a Ring camera, Siminoff gave Jessica Katz a call.

Low-income renters who are displaced from their homes tend to experience many adverse impacts in other areas of their lives, a recent study that focused on San Mateo County residents shows.

Such displaced renters are left with fewer job options and health services, longer commutes and greater environmental and safety concerns, according to a study by researchers Justine Marcus and Mirian Zuk with U.C. Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies.

In the expensive housing markets of northern California, a growing number of cities are making it tougher for landlords to displace tenants by requiring they justify their evictions.

Now Los Angeles, with its own housing affordability crisis, may follow their lead.

The City Council's housing panel on Wednesday advanced a proposal that would bar evictions except for just cause — such as when tenants don't pay rent, become a nuisance or damage property. Right now, landlords of market-rate properties in L.A. don't have to give a reason for removing tenants.