Uldarico is a 70 year-old Filipino immigrant who lives with his family in a three-unit building in SOMA. The building houses over 20 people including seniors and young children. All are facing eviction under the Ellis Act.
Uldarico worked for the state for years before retiring in 1999. He and his wife, Lolita (67), have lived in the building since 1979. Their children and young grandchildren live with them – three generations residing together in affordable, rent-controlled housing.
Amparo and Romulo, 72 years old, reside in another apartment in the building. Their son Hector works for a local landscaper. Hector has lived in the apartment for over a decade. His parents are retired.
Maria, age 62, and her family live in the building as well. Her son Ricardo is a tow truck driver in San Francisco. They are immigrants from Mexico. The family has lived in the apartment for over a decade.
For years the tenants of this building lived in their homes without incident. In 2001, everything changed. Hung Cheng and Judy Cheng purchased the building. They managed the building so poorly that the tenants’ water was shut off. The Chengs refused to make repairs despite numerous city notices citing dozens of substandard conditions. They would not even provide basics like heat. After months of trying to obtain repairs and being ignored by the Chengs, the tenants’ patience ran out. They successfully sued the Chengs and obtained an injunction forcing the Chengs to make repairs.
This group of immigrant tenants did what many are afraid to do: they stood up to their landlord. They demanded repairs, reported the landlord to the city and sued. The eviction of these tenants sets a dangerous precedent, discouraging vulnerable tenants from making complaints and asserting their rights. This is what makes this case so important. San Franciscans must come together to support these courageous tenants in their fight against eviction.
Alda Chan and Joe Chan, both in their mid-20s, are the new owners of the building. Within days of purchasing the building, they served Ellis Act eviction notices on the tenants.
The rationale for the Ellis Act does not support allowing Ellis evictions by new owners in this type of case. As explained in Part 1 of this series, the idea of the Act was to provide an escape route for landlords supposedly locked into the landlord business against their will. Alda and Joe Chan voluntarily purchased this building knowing there were tenants residing there. If they did not want to be landlords, they could have purchased a different building. The only function of the Ellis Act in these circumstances is to encourage speculation and mass conversion of rent controlled housing.
These two young people are so eager to make money that they are willing to throw more than 20 immigrant tenants out of their homes and, most likely, out of San Francisco.
This is how a city changes.
Dean Preston is an attorney at the Tenderloin Housing Clinic. He represents the tenants at the building discussed in this article. This article is the second part of a series on the recent wave of Ellis Act evictions sweeping San Francisco
