Tenant activists will rally on the steps of City Hall today to protest legislation that could increase evictions throughout San Francisco. Written by Supervisor Bevan Dufty, the legislation would restructure the Tenancy in Common (TIC) conversion lottery by giving precedence to those who’ve been in the lottery the longest, raising concerns that it will increase the desirability of TICs by guaranteeing every TIC would eventually become condos. Landlords who evicted low-income, senior, and disabled tenants to acquire their building would be rewarded as a result, a problem the Board of Supervisors will deal with when the hear the issue following today’s rally.
The Board of Supervisors considers legislation to weaken condo conversion restrictions one day after John Hickey—who used the Ellis Act to evict Lola McKay from her home of 50 years to create condos—was convicted in federal court on charges of real estate fraud. The conviction comes too late to help the deceased McKay, but it shows why the city should not open the door to more evictions for profit by unsavory real estate speculators.
The current process for those who purchase TICs – multi-unit buildings which several owners share financial responsibility for – works as follows: everyone who wants to convert their building into condos must enter into a lottery. Each year, the city chooses 200 buildings at random that will be allowed to convert. Those passed up must wait until the next year for another chance at conversion, and so on.
Every year, the owners of about 450 buildings apply for the lottery. As it currently stands, the random nature of the process means some owners can wait endlessly, year after year, before being allowed to convert, while others can convert almost immediately.
Dufty hoped to address this issue with his current legislation by rewarding those with seniority. However, tenant activist protested almost immediately, pointing out that such a proposal would guarantee every TIC could eventually become a condo. This would make purchasing TICs more attractive to investors, likely increasing the number of attempted conversions over time.
Converting from a TIC to a condo cannot be considered inherently bad. However, many TIC owners obtain their buildings by evicting the current tenants without cause. A state law called the Ellis Act allows investors to kick out low-income, senior and disabled tenants from their homes, no matter how long they’ve lived there, to clear the building for condo conversion.
The Board of Supervisors will address Dufty’s legislation today following a rally protesting the proposal. Tenant advocates will be pushing for the Board to either kill the legislation, or amend it to only give seniority rewards for those buildings where evictions did not occur.
“Clearly we do not want to reward people who have done evictions,” said Ted Gullicksen of the Tenant’s Union. ” When we look at the best way to restructure the lottery, it’s to make it easier for buildings which have no evictions to become condos, and make it harder for buildings which have had evictions to become condos.”
Today’s rally will be held at 1 p.m. The Board will hear the legislation at their 2 p.m. weekly meeting.
