Sponsored link
Friday, July 26, 2024

Sponsored link

News + PoliticsHousingLandlords abandon attack on anti-eviction law

Landlords abandon attack on anti-eviction law

Group drops effort to block Preston law that protects renters who lost income because of COVID from losing their homes.

-

The landlord lobby in San Francisco today abandoned its appeal of a law giving tenants permanent relief from eviction if they couldn’t pay rent during the COVID crisis.

The measure, by Supervisor Dean Preston, passed the board in June and was signed into law by Mayor London Breed.

Preston won legal protections for all local tenants during the crisis.

It doesn’t forgive rent – but it prevents landlords for using eviction as an enforcement tool. As long as tenants face hardships from the crisis, they have the right to stay in their homes.

Without that law, Preston said, thousands of San Franciscans would face homelessness this fall, now that the courts have resumed eviction cases.

The four big landlord groups in the city – the Apartment Association, the Association of Realtors, the Coalition for Better Housing, and the Small Property Owners – sued, arguing that the measure violated state law.

A Superior Court judge rejected that claim, and the landlords appealed.

But today the landlord group officially withdrew its appeal, meaning that the tenant protections will stand.

That’s a huge win for the city, for Preston, and for tenants. It suggests that the landlord lobby knew it wasn’t in a good position to argue that, in a pandemic, property owners should have the right to throw people out of their homes because they lost their jobs.

48 Hills welcomes comments in the form of letters to the editor, which you can submit here. We also invite you to join the conversation on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. 

Tim Redmond
Tim Redmond
Tim Redmond has been a political and investigative reporter in San Francisco for more than 30 years. He spent much of that time as executive editor of the Bay Guardian. He is the founder of 48hills.

Featured

Second City takes Berkeley Rep

Legendary Chicago improv company doesn't hesitate to remind you of its bona fides—but it's all well-deserved.

‘Groove’ is (still) in the heart

Raise your hands: Seminal 24-year-old film about the SF rave scene gets a fresh look at Vogue Theatre.

More by this author

The supes vote on an imperfect, but much better, budget …

... plus new affordable housing and a series of City Charter amendments and a celebration of labor. That's The Agenda for July 14-21

Look who’s funding the local Democratic Party

The right-wing tech barons and plutocrats are now the party's biggest donor base.
Sponsored link
Sponsored link

You might also likeRELATED