“This measure would seriously decrease the incentive for speculators to buy property and evict tenants for the purpose of ‘flipping,'”said Maria Zamudio, spokesperson for the coalition and organizer for Causa Justa; Just Cause. “This would be a very powerful tool to curb the rampant destruction of our communities by the real estate industry, which is only interested in making a buck, even when it is at the expense of long-time San Francisco renters who lose their homes.”
The decision was announced in a press release today.
Since the measure calls for a new tax, it needs voter approval. There will. No doubt, be a well-funded campaign against it, but right now any pro-tenant measure probably starts off with about a 75 percent approval margin.
The first person to bring this up at the tenant conventions was longtime Haight Ashbury housing activist Calvin Welch, who noted that it was first proposed by Milk. At the citywide tenant convention, some 77 percent of the more than 600 attendees ranked it as one of their top three choices. (There’s a cool poster from the 1970s here.)
(UPDATE: While Welch did bring it up at the convention, I have just learned that Tommi Mecca and Brian Basinger proposed it earlier, at the November Harvey Milk march. My mistake.)
The measure will add one more powerful element to what is becoming the Year of the Tenant, and will force elected officials – including those who are running for office in November – to take a position on it.
Combined with legislation by Sup. David Campos to require higher relocation fees for Ellis evictions, a bill by Sup. Eric Mar to better regulate tenancies in common, and a bill by Sup. David Chiu to give preference in affordable housing for people who were evicted under the Ellis Act, there’s a huge tenant agenda this year.
And given the anger in San Francisco today, any politician who doesn’t support that agenda is going to face some serious problems.
