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On a winter morning in Woodland Hills, the “Squatter Hunter” slowly approaches a posh two-story home dressed in all black, armed with a Glock 26 pistol, stun gun, pepper spray and baton. His body camera is on. His two-man squad lurks behind him.

They’ve spent four days in surveillance, learning the habits of the man squatting inside. They’ve waited for him to leave, but he never does. So they knock on the front door, and when the occupant opens it, they barge inside.

Their plan: live with the squatter. Dirty the bathroom. Take the best spot on the couch. Commandeer the TV remote. Blast music. Drink his coffee. Eat his Cheetos.

Out-squat him. And film it all for YouTube.

As the body camera footage shows, the team starts installing Ring cameras throughout the home to document every interaction. The Squatter Hunter, Flash Shelton, hands the man a lease with Shelton’s name on it.

“You’re an intruder in my house now,” he says.

Shelton explains that the man is there illegally, and the team is not going anywhere until he leaves. The squatter was out before they could even share breakfast together.

For homeowners in Southern California and beyond, run-ins with squatters can be a nightmare both emotionally and financially. For the Squatter Hunter, it’s just another day on the job.

What started as a viral YouTube video has grown into a one-of-a-kind vigilante-style service, helping homeowners boot trespassers from their property.

His motto: “If they can take a house, I can take a house.”

A new identity

Shelton, a California native, understands what drives some people to squat. He said he grew up practically homeless, “moving every time the rent was due.”

At 16, he started a handyman business, and in 2009 he established the United Handyman Assn., a trade organization that lobbies for handyman rights. Along the way, Shelton, 56, also worked as a bouncer, where he learned how to handle situations that could turn violent.

“I took the same deescalation courses law enforcement would take,” he said.

Shelton carries a no-nonsense demeanor and sports a thick gray goatee, a San Fernando Valley version of Josh Brolin. On his website, he poses in a black baseball cap emblazoned with the words, “GET OUT.”

His first experience with a squatter was in 2019. Shelton’s father died two years prior, and his mother moved in with him while they put her Northern California home on the market.

A woman reached out about renting it — offering repairs for free rent, since she had no money — but Shelton declined. But while the home was unoccupied, the woman broke in through the back door and moved in, furniture and all, Shelton said. He started receiving calls from real estate agents planning to show the house to prospective buyers saying they couldn’t access it because people were living inside.

He called the local sheriff’s department, but according to Shelton, they said they couldn’t enter the house since it appeared to be occupied.

Hearing nightmares about the lengthy and arduous process of dragging out an eviction in court, Shelton got creative; he had his mom write up a lease making him the official tenant of the home. That way, he could legally enter the property.

“If they’re the squatter, they have rights. So if I become the squatter on a squatter, I should have rights,” he said.

He drove 10 hours from the San Fernando Valley and slept in his Jeep outside the home, waiting for her to leave in the morning. When she did, he went inside and installed Ring cameras throughout the property.

When she returned, he explained that he was the new tenant and that she needed to move all her stuff out. Since he was now in possession of the property, he said if she returned, he would call the police for trespassing.

She left by the end of the day.

Squatting isn’t common; most housing disputes are between landlords and tenants, in which an entirely different set of rules is in play. But for homeowners who’ve dealt with an actual squatter, the process of removing them can be arduous and costly, taking weeks or months and costing tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees.

But Shelton made it look easy. He recorded the entire encounter and published a recap on YouTube titled, “How I removed squatters in less than a day.”

The video went viral, racking up millions of views and thousands of comments. Shelton saw an opportunity.

“I just simplified it. There’s so many people asking me why we haven’t been doing this all along,” he said. “I was just fighting for my mom in the beginning, but now I’ve reinvented myself.”

And so, the Squatter Hunter was born.

Flash Shelton shows off his tool belt complete with a baton at Todd Longshore Park in Santa Clarita this month.

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Keith Moret, a commercial real estate agent with Lyon Stahl, first heard of Shelton when he appeared on a TV news segment shortly after his YouTube video went viral. Since then, he’s been sharing the story in real estate circles.

“I’m not surprised he’s getting attention,” Moret said. “So many people are frustrated with the legal system. Attorneys are expensive, and the deck feels stacked against housing providers.”

He said squatting has become more of an issue as homelessness rises, and he takes precautions when listing buildings with vacant units. On a recent sale in East Hollywood, he hired someone to board up all the windows while the deal was in escrow.

Shelton has since started a website, squatterhunters.com, where he offers his services. Over the last year he’s conducted hundreds of Zoom consultations, talking homeowners through their squatter problems and coaching them on potential strategies.

Business is booming. He consults for free but requires clients to donate $150 to a GoFundMe advocating for squatter law change. So far, he’s raised nearly $9,000.

“Just the hope itself helps people,” he said. “People are tired of hearing that there’s nothing they can do about someone stealing their home from them.”

For clients with bigger problems, he offers to remove the squatter personally, either by himself or with a team he assembles. Over the last few months, he said he has handled about 10 jobs in California and Nevada. The minimum price for a job is around $5,000. There is no maximum.

Sometimes it takes three to four hours. Sometimes it takes weeks.

It can be costly, but Shelton said he’s encountered homeowners who’ve already sunk $100,000 into their efforts to remove a squatter through the legal system and made no progress.

“I don’t tell them what I’m doing or how I’m doing it. I just tell them to make me a leaseholder, and I handle the rest,” he said.

California’s housing crisis

Squatters aren’t created in a vacuum. More often than not, they’re the product of a brutal California housing market in which rents skyrocket and affordable housing disappears.

In L.A., the median rent is $2,750, well above the national median of $2,045, according to Zillow. Soaring home values, especially since the pandemic, have contributed to a widening wealth gap in Southern California, leaving many renters in desperate financial situations.

But there’s a big difference between tenants — even ones who stopped paying rent a long time ago — and squatters.

A tenant is someone who was invited onto a property with consent, said Mark Martinez, a tenant rights attorney. That consent can be as formal as a written lease or as casual as a verbal agreement. Even if a tenant stops paying rent, they still have protections, and landlords have to go through an official eviction process, which can take weeks or months.

For example, Elizabeth Hirschhorn, the woman who stayed in a luxury Airbnb in Brentwood for 570 days rent-free, was technically a tenant. Even though she stopped paying rent, she initially had an agreement to move in.

A squatter is essentially a trespasser, Martinez said: someone who goes into a property without permission and stays there.

Besides adverse possession, a rarely seen process in which a person can obtain a property after openly living there and paying property taxes for five years, there are no true “squatter’s rights,” Martinez said. Trespassing is illegal, and squatters cannot legally live in a home.

Still, they are innocent until proven guilty, and homeowners can’t simply go in and drag them out of the home or else they expose themselves to a potential lawsuit for harassment or assault.

In some cases, police cannot immediately remove squatters for a variety of reasons, Martinez said. For example, a squatter could claim the landlord allowed them to live there or produce a fake lease, making the situation more ambiguous.

Moret, the real estate agent, said police officers once refused to remove a squatter living beneath the carport outside one of his buildings because he didn’t have a “No Trespassing” sign posted. Another time, police said their hands were tied because residents had no proof that the squatter committed a crime, according to Moret.

Shelton said many of the homeowners he consults with claim that police aren’t able to remove squatters because they have no proof of when exactly the squatter entered the home and how long they’ve been there.

The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department did not return multiple requests for comment.

Both Shelton and Martinez said the first thing you should do if you encounter a squatter in your home is go to the police. Martinez said if the police are unable to remove them, call an attorney.

He advised against using Shelton’s services.

“It sets a stage for violence,” Martinez said. “Even if there’s not a legal risk, when you’re invading somebody’s living space, there’s always potential for physical conflict.”

Martinez acknowledges that the eviction process can be lengthy since there are multiple obstacles in the way that hinder landlords from a speedy eviction, and some civil cases can take a year or longer. But he says that’s the way it has to be — especially in cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, where rents have skyrocketed.

“Tenants are consistently taken advantage of, and they need rights,” he said. “Landlords want real justice. They want squatters out immediately. But that has to be balanced with due process and being able to defend yourself in court.”

Shelton said working with an attorney to push an eviction through the court system will take months and cost a small fortune in legal fees and lost rent.

“If you find a squatter and have no clue why they’re in your home, and then you file legal documents declaring that they’re in your home, you’re giving them rights as a tenant. But I can try to get them out before anyone knows they’re there,” he said.

“Before you call a lawyer, call me.”

The Squatter Hunter method

Shelton has to be selective with the cases he takes.

First, he only deals with squatters, never tenants, and only takes on cases where nothing has been filed in court so that there’s no proof that the squatter is living in the home. If a judge has already given them tenant rights, his hands are tied on what he’s legally allowed to do.

Then, he visits the local law enforcement office and explains what he’s doing. That way, if there’s a hostile situation, police officers know his specific plans and intentions.

After that, he works with the homeowner to write up a lease declaring him the tenant and records himself signing it. If he ever goes to court, he’ll have proof that the home belongs to him.

The fact that he’s doing the work, and not the homeowner, is part of Shelton’s legal calculus. According to Martinez, California law prohibits “self-help evictions,” in which landlords try to remove a squatter themselves.

It’s one of four things he lists on his website for landlords to avoid when trying to evict a tenant: no self-help evictions, no retaliation against the tenant, no discrimination and no harassment. He added that a homeowner who hires Shelton might have vicarious liability; they didn’t kick the squatter out themselves, but someone they hired did.

So far, no squatter has taken Shelton to court — to win back possession of the home, they’d have to prove that they entered it legally. But the homeowner’s potential “vicarious liability” is one of the reasons he doesn’t identify them publicly or tell them about his plans; the less they know the better if a dispute ever goes to court.

Once the lease is signed, he turns into a private investigator, researching everything he can about the squatter: name, age, background check, criminal history, anything he can use when he finally confronts them. He interviews neighbors to learn the squatter’s habits and stakes out the house for days to see when they leave and when they return.

Flash Shelton researches everything he can about the squatter before he finally confronts the person.

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Shelton sometimes works solo, and if he does need help, he has a strict screening process for those who want to join an operation.

“Most guys I talk to have beer muscles and want to rip a squatter right out of the home. I need someone who can stand there and keep their mouth shut,” he said.

If he brings in someone who whips out a weapon and hurts someone, he could potentially be liable, he said.

Although every case is different, there’s generally an easy way and a hard way to remove a squatter.

The easy way: Wait for the squatter to leave the home and secure possession of the property while they’re gone. Change the locks and install security cameras.

“Now, they’re fighting to get back in instead of the homeowner fighting to get them out,” he said.

The situations are tense, but he said he stays calm. The deescalation training helps.

“I know these people didn’t wake up with the intention to ruin my day. Squatters aren’t attacking me or my family. They’re just taking advantage of a system,” he said. “The last thing I want to do is aggravate a situation that could be handled civilly, and part of that is being nice.”

The hard way: squatting with the squatter.

“If I can’t get them off the property, I’ll move in with them,” he said. “I walk in, sit on the couch, pour a bowl of cereal and say, ‘Lucy, I’m home!’”

He hands the squatter a copy of the lease and explains that he’s not going anywhere — that he’s there to make their living situation miserable and “turn it into a reality show” with cameras everywhere.

They’re typically out by the end of the day.

To help persuade squatters to leave, he offers them a deal: If they go peacefully, he’ll keep their identity a secret.

Most squatters accept. For those who don’t, he uploads their picture onto his website and their interaction onto YouTube and Instagram. He’s currently building a database of confirmed squatters so landlords can avoid renting to them in the future.

One YouTube video details a confrontation with Adam Fleischman, the former chief executive of the restaurant chain Umami Burger. In the video, Fleischman claims he had a verbal agreement to live in a Hollywood Hills home, giving him rights as a tenant, but that he didn’t have to pay rent.

In another, Shelton sneaks up on a woman entering a Culver City home through a window.

“What do you have to say for yourself?” he asks.

She doesn’t take the bait, instead responding with an onslaught of curses.

Shelton, a single father with five kids, two living at home, doesn’t want to hunt squatters forever, but demand has been overwhelming.

The end game is policy change. His GoFundMe advocates for legislation that would expand law enforcement’s ability to remove squatters and also make it easier for judges to order squatters to pay restitution.

“The whole system needs to change,” he said. “I want my name on a bill.”

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Redco Development and GCI General Contractors have purchased a 11,000 square foot office building in San Francisco for a discounted price of $28 million.

The local developer and the Mountain View-based builder bought the eight-story building at 300 California Street in the financial district, the San Francisco Business Times reported, citing an unnamed source. The seller was LeFrak of New York.

The price for the half-vacant building is $240 per square foot.

LeFrak purchased the Class B office building in 2014 for $58.25 million, or $485 per square foot, so the latest sale represents a 51 percent discount from the 2014 price.

The sale is the latest low-priced transaction in San Francisco, where the shift to remote work has left 36.6 percent of the city's offices vacant. Rents have plummeted. Valuations have plummeted. Refinancing has become more difficult in a clouded market affected by higher interest rates.

Property owners attempted to renegotiate expiring loans or returned the keys to their lenders in a market with newly set prices.

The deal for 300 California is expected to close next month, according to the Business Journal. The upcoming office sale is the latest in Downtown San Francisco, where interest in affordable real estate has increased among local and national investors.

The building is right next to the one where local investors SKS Real Estate Partners and The Swig Company bought a 22-story office building last summer for $61 million – 76 percent less than the asking price in 2020. The 297,600-square-foot building was one of the first office buildings to sell after the pandemic, and the price was set at about $200 per square foot.

Across the street, a 16,500-square-foot office building at California 255 is for sale for an undisclosed price.

This week, New York Life Real Estate Investors and New York-based Bridgeton bought a 76,000-square-foot office building at 410 Townsend Street in South of Market for $22 million, or $290 per square foot – 75 percent less than the sale price in 2019.

New York Life and Bridgeton are among the first foreign investors to purchase offices in San Francisco recently.

It is not clear what Redco and GCI plan to do with the boxy granite building at California 300, which was built in 1946 at the corner of California and Battery streets. Redco declined to comment to the Business Times.

According to online advertisements, around 5,700 square meters of office and retail space are available for rent, including a ground-floor store that was vacated by Amazon Go last year.

Late last year, Redco and Tonic Nightlife Group, a group of investors and members of the Harrington family, reopened Harrington's, the popular Irish bar in the financial district.

In March of last year, Redco and AEW Capital Management vacated a vacant First National Bank building at 1 Montgomery Street after defaulting on their mortgage payments.

Redco and AEW purchased the 9,200-square-foot office building in 2019 for $84 million. The price for the 115-year-old landmark was $840 per square foot.

— Dana Bartholomew

Read more

Banks settle with SF landlords instead of owning vacant offices

NY Life and Bridgeton pay $22 million discount for office building in San Francisco

Redco Development and AEW Capital withdraw from First National Bank building in San Francisco

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Als an einem Abend Anfang November etwa 30 Tänzerinnen ihre ersten Gehaltsschecks vom Penthouse Club erhielten, erfasste den beliebten Stripclub in North Beach eine Welle der Panik.

„Ich habe meine in der Umkleidekabine geöffnet und war schockiert“, sagte eine ehemalige Penthouse-Tänzerin, die als Jane identifiziert werden wollte. „Alle anderen Mädchen sind auch ausgeflippt. Meine Freundinnen und ich haben in diesem Moment entschieden, dass es für uns vorbei ist. Das war der Tropfen, der das Fass zum Überlaufen brachte.“

Die Tänzerinnen waren früher als unabhängige Auftragnehmerinnen eingestuft und waren es gewohnt, jeden Abend nach Ende ihrer Schichten mit Bargeld – oft Hunderten von Dollar – aus den Clubtüren zu gehen. Das änderte sich schlagartig, als Clubs in der ganzen Stadt begannen, ein Urteil des Obersten Gerichtshofs von Kalifornien vom April in einer anderen Branche durchzusetzen, das neue Standards für die Bestimmung setzte, ob Arbeiter als Angestellte eingestuft werden sollten oder nicht.

Die Entscheidung hat die Gig Economy erschüttert, wirkt sich aber auch auf unerwartete Bereiche aus, etwa auf Friseursalons und die Erotikbranche, in denen Arbeitnehmer traditionell nicht als Angestellte gelten.

In den örtlichen Clubs führt die Umstellung auf Angestelltenstatus bei Tänzerinnen zu einem Exodus; viele von ihnen verlassen die Lokale in San Francisco.

„Das ganze Geschäft wird komplett ruiniert. Der Sinn des Stripper-Daseins besteht darin, dass man schnell an Geld kommt, niemand weiß, wie man es bekommt, es wird nicht dokumentiert und es wird einem nicht weggenommen“, sagte eine alleinerziehende Mutter, die ihren Namen als Darla angab und kürzlich ebenfalls ihre Verbindung zum Penthouse Club abgebrochen hat. Wie andere Tänzerinnen, mit denen der San Francisco Examiner für diesen Artikel sprach, bat sie aus Angst vor Vergeltungsmaßnahmen darum, anonym zu bleiben.

Menschen gehen am Donnerstag, 20. Dezember 2018, am Penthouse Club am Broadway in North Beach vorbei. (Kevin N. Hume/SF Examiner)

Die Clubbesitzer sagen, dass die Änderungen auch für sie Kosten verursachen.

Auf einem Mitte Oktober in der Umkleidekabine der Tänzerinnen des Gold Clubs im Viertel South of Market angebrachten Schild hieß es, der Club sei „der Ansicht, er schütze Ihr Recht und Ihre Freiheit, ein unabhängiger Auftragnehmer zu sein“.

„Aufgrund der Klagen und der anhaltenden Forderungen der klagenden Tänzerinnen und ihrer Anwälte ist der Club nun jedoch per Gerichtsbeschluss gezwungen, die Möglichkeit der unabhängigen Auftragnehmerin abzuschaffen und alle Tänzerinnen zu Angestellten des Clubs zu verpflichten“, hieß es auf dem Schild.

Axel Sang, Marketingdirektor von BSC, bestätigte in einer E-Mail an den Examiner, dass die Tänzerinnen früher Vertragspartner gewesen seien, jetzt aber „Clubangestellte seien, die einen Stundenlohn und eine Provision auf Tanzverkäufe erhalten“.

„Die von BSC verwalteten Clubs erhalten jetzt zusätzlich zum Stundenlohn die entsprechenden Lohnsteuern, Arbeitslosenunterstützung, Arbeiterunfallversicherung, Kosten für Healthy San Francisco, Kosten für Affordable Care Insurance und Krankengeld für mehrere Hundert neue Entertainer“, schrieb er.

Er schätzte, dass 200 Tänzerinnen ihre Stelle in BSC-Clubs, darunter Penthouse und Gold Club, seit der Änderung in Kraft getreten sind, und sagte, die Änderung habe „dramatische Auswirkungen auf das Geschäft und die Rentabilität“ gehabt und koste die Clubs „mehrere Millionen Dollar“ pro Jahr.

„Ein erheblicher Rückgang der Zahl der auftretenden Künstler sowie eine deutliche Steigerung der Lohn- und sonstigen Kosten machen es sehr schwierig, Gewinne zu erzielen“, sagte Sang.

Die Entscheidung des Obersten Gerichtshofs von Kalifornien, die die Änderungen im Unternehmen durchsetzte, ging auf eine Klage von zwei Fahrern von Dynamex zurück, einem Unternehmen für Same-Day-Lieferungen und Logistik, das seine Fahrer 2004 zu unabhängigen Vertragspartnern machte. Nach dem Urteil können Arbeiter nun als Angestellte betrachtet werden, wenn sie ihre Arbeit im Rahmen des normalen Geschäftsbetriebs des Unternehmens verrichten, sagte David Peer, ein Arbeitsrechtsanwalt in Carlsbad, der über das Dynamex-Urteil geschrieben hat.

„Wenn Sie einen Stripclub betreiben, würden Sie denken, dass die Tänzerinnen ihre Arbeit im üblichen Rahmen verrichten“, sagte Peer. „Wenn die Clubbesitzer auf Nummer sicher gehen wollen, sollten sie auf jeden Fall den Mindestlohn zahlen und die Lohn- und Arbeitszeitregeln einhalten, die die meisten Organisationen befolgen, wenn sie einen Mitarbeiter einstellen.“

Laut Harold Lichten von Lichten & Liss-Riordan, einer Anwaltskanzlei in Boston, die Uber-Fahrer vertritt, die behaupten, das Mitfahrunternehmen habe sie falsch eingestuft, gab es bereits vor dem Dynamex-Urteil Klagen wegen unsachgemäßer Einstufung exotischer Tänzerinnen.

Silhouetten exotischer Tänzerinnen vor Centerfolds am Broadway in North Beach am Donnerstag, 20. Dezember 2018. (Kevin N. Hume/SF Examiner)

„Wenn Sie jemanden fälschlicherweise als unabhängigen Auftragnehmer einstufen, müssen Sie weder Sozialversicherungsbeiträge noch Arbeitslosengeld, noch Mindestlohn oder Überstunden zahlen“, sagte Lichten und fügte hinzu, dass die Anreize für Unternehmen „unglaublich groß“ seien, „Menschen falsch einzustufen, weil sie so viel Geld auf Kosten der Arbeitnehmer sparen.“

Lichten sagte, das Dynamex-Urteil sei ein Hebel im laufenden Rechtsstreit mit Uber, und merkte an, es dürfte auch den Tänzerinnen zugute kommen, die nun Anspruch auf den gleichen Schutz hätten wie alle Arbeitnehmer.

„Die Sorge ist, dass einige Unternehmen die Beträge, die sie ihnen zahlen, senken könnten, um ihre Verluste auszugleichen“, sagte Lichten. „Das wäre bedauerlich. Aber insgesamt ist es viel besser, Angestellter zu sein, weil man gesetzlichen Schutz genießt.“

Die vom Examiner befragten Tänzerinnen sagten jedoch, dass ihnen die Neueinstufung zwar nun ein Anspruch auf Mindestlohn, Sozialleistungen und die Möglichkeit zur Gewerkschaftsbildung zustieße, sie jedoch mehr Schaden als Nutzen gebracht habe.

„Zwei Wochen lang hatte keines dieser Mädchen einen Scheck über 300 Dollar. Es herrschte große Aufregung. Viele Mädchen packten an diesem Abend ihre Sachen und gingen. Ich war eines dieser Mädchen“, sagte Darla.

„Ich kann für 15 Dollar die Stunde bei McDonald's arbeiten, muss meine Klamotten nicht ausziehen und muss mir nicht den ganzen Mist anhören, den ich als Tänzerin ertrage“, fügte Darla hinzu und bemerkte, dass alle Penthouse-Tänzer „überlegt haben, zu gehen“.

Die überwiegende Mehrheit der Stripclubs in San Francisco – 10 von 12 – gehören BSC Management oder werden von diesem Unternehmen verwaltet. Die einzigen Ausnahmen sind das Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theatre und The Crazy Horse.

Sang sagte, das Unternehmen zahle den Tänzern nicht mehr als den Mindestlohn, da sie „Provisionen auf Tanzverkäufe erhalten, die in den meisten Fällen den Stundenlohn weit übersteigen.“

Neonschilder für Erotikclubs leuchten am Donnerstag, 20. Dezember 2018, entlang des Broadway in North Beach. (Kevin N. Hume/SF Examiner)

Die Fakultät und die Studierenden fordern den neuen Kanzler unter neuer Leitung auf, der Verfügbarkeit von Englisch 1A-Kursen Priorität einzuräumen.

Chobani-CEO Hamdi Ulukaya sagte, er beabsichtige, weiterhin Craft Beer vor Ort zu brauen und gleichzeitig die Produktion auszuweiten

In einem offenen Brief erklären KI-Mitarbeiter, dass Unternehmensvereinbarungen und -kulturen sie daran hindern, Sicherheitsbedenken – einschließlich existenzieller Risiken – offen zu diskutieren.

Tänzer sagten jedoch, dass auch die Provisionsstruktur für private Tänze erheblich gekürzt wurde.

Die Richtlinien können von Club zu Club unterschiedlich sein, aber vor der Neueinstufung sagten die Tänzerinnen, dass sie 75 Prozent ihrer Tanzeinnahmen behalten könnten, wenn sie früh genug zu ihrer Schicht kämen – womit sie den Großteil ihres Geldes verdienten.

Eine Tänzerin im Gold Club, die darum gebeten hatte, Mary genannt zu werden, sagte, es sei üblich gewesen, dass Tänzerinnen pro Schicht durchschnittlich Tänze im Wert von etwa 1.000 Dollar verkauften und 750 Dollar behielten.

Im Rahmen der neuen Provisionsstruktur des Gold Clubs behalten die Tänzerinnen allerdings nach eigenen Angaben von den ersten 150 Dollar, die sie bei Privattänzen verkaufen, nichts ein, von den nächsten 250 Dollar, die sie verkaufen, 40 Prozent und von den darüber hinausgehenden Verkäufen 60 Prozent.

Einige Tänzer sagten, sie müssten für die Anmietung des Privatraums zusätzlich eine Gebühr von 100 Dollar bezahlen.

Tänzerinnen im Gold Club sagten, dass sie für den ersten verkauften Privattanz einer halben Stunde jetzt nur noch 60 Dollar bekommen.

„Wenn ich einen Kunden 400 Dollar zahlen lasse und davon nur 60 Dollar sehe, ist das für mich unrealistisch“, sagte Mary. „Wir wollen unseren Job machen, und früher bestand unser Geschäft darin, Tänze zu verkaufen. Und wir müssen immer noch unseren Lebensunterhalt verdienen. Aber wo ist gleichzeitig der Anreiz?“

Einige Tänzerinnen befürchteten außerdem, dass sie als Angestellte nicht mehr auswählen könnten, welche Kunden sie bedienen.

Joe Carouba, ein Eigentümer von BSC, wollte wegen eines laufenden Rechtsstreits nicht mit dem Examiner über diesen Artikel sprechen. In einer Aussage im Oktober im Zusammenhang mit einer von Olivia Doe eingereichten Klage sagte er jedoch, er sei „fest davon überzeugt“, dass Tänzer unabhängige Auftragnehmer sein sollten, damit sie mehr Kontrolle darüber haben, welche Kunden sie bedienen und welche nicht.

„Ich finde, sie sollten ihre Sexualität selbst bestimmen, sie sollten ihren Körper selbst bestimmen“, sagte er. „Der Unterschied besteht natürlich darin, dass man als Angestellter nicht wählen kann, für wen man auftritt, als unabhängiger Auftragnehmer kann man hingegen wählen, wie man auftritt, für wen man auftritt und auf welchem ​​Niveau man sich wohlfühlt.“

Tänzer gaben an, dass viele von ihnen schlecht informiert waren und von der Einführung der neuen Verträge überrascht wurden.

Jane sagte, sie sei eine der ersten Penthouse-Tänzerinnen gewesen, die inmitten großer Verwirrung den neuen Vertrag unterzeichnet habe, und sie habe weder eine Kopie noch Zeit bekommen, ihn durchzusehen.

Im Gold Club, so Mary, rief das Management Tänzerinnen mitten in ihrer Schicht ins Büro, immer noch in Bikinis und 20 Zentimeter hohen Absätzen, und forderte sie auf, sich einen neuen Vertrag auf einem Computerbildschirm anzusehen und ihn sofort zu unterschreiben. Einige Tänzerinnen hätten während ihrer Schicht getrunken, sagte sie.

„Wir hatten keine Gelegenheit, die Verträge vorher anzusehen oder uns Papierkopien zu besorgen“, sagte Mary. „Es gab wirklich keine Kommunikation, keine Transparenz.“

Sang bestritt die Vorwürfe und sagte, die Kameras seien installiert worden, um die Vereine vor juristischen Einwänden im Zusammenhang mit den neuen Verträgen zu schützen.

„Es gab deutliche Schilder, die darauf hinwiesen, dass die Bereiche per Video und Audio überwacht wurden. Jede Vertragsunterzeichnung auf Video und Audio zeigt deutlich, dass jeder Entertainer den Vertrag vor der Unterzeichnung vollständig lesen musste“, schrieb Sang in einer E-Mail. „Vor laufender Kamera wurde jedem Entertainer eindeutig eine Kopie der Verträge ausgehändigt, die er unterzeichnet hatte.“

Tänzerinnen sagten, die Moral sei in Clubs in der ganzen Stadt im Keller. Viele sind unzufrieden damit, wie das Management die Veränderungen angekündigt und umgesetzt hat, fürchten aber, ihren Job zu verlieren, wenn sie sich beschweren.

Da BSC praktisch ein Monopol auf die Stripclubs in San Francisco hat, befürchten Tänzerinnen, dass sie nirgendwo anders in der Stadt arbeiten können, wenn sie in einem Club auf die schwarze Liste gesetzt werden.

Während Tänzerinnen im ganzen Land Clubs verklagt haben und behaupten, sie hätten als Angestellte und nicht als unabhängige Auftragnehmer eingestuft werden sollen, sagten diejenigen, die mit dem Examiner sprachen, dass nicht jeder Angestellter sein möchte. Es gibt Vorteile, unabhängige Auftragnehmer zu sein – solange sie tatsächlich als Auftragnehmer behandelt werden.

Mary sagte, dass die Behandlung als Vertragsnehmerin bedeuten würde, dass sie die Tanzgebühren direkt mit den Kunden aushandeln könnte, anstatt dass der Club die Preise festlegt, und dass sie auch die Tage und Zeiten ihrer Arbeit selbst bestimmen könnte. Zuvor konnten Tänzer als Vertragsnehmer zwar die Tage auswählen, an denen sie arbeiteten, aber nicht die Stunden.

„Auftragnehmer sollten Autonomie haben“, sagte sie.

Ein oft angepriesener Vorteil der Anstellung ist der Zugang zu Zusatzleistungen wie Krankenversicherung. Aber um sich dafür zu qualifizieren, müssen die Angestellten genügend Stunden arbeiten, um als Vollzeitkräfte zu gelten – was für die meisten Leute, die in einem Stripclub tanzen, nicht praktikabel ist. Tänzerinnen sagten, selbst drei Tage die Woche zu arbeiten sei körperlich anstrengend.

„Man tut, was man tun muss, um seine Grenzen zu wahren und gleichzeitig dafür zu sorgen, dass die anderen Spaß haben. Das erfordert viel emotionale Arbeit“, sagte Mary. „Ich glaube, die Leute erkennen nicht, dass das der schwierigste Teil unseres Jobs ist. In der öffentlichen Wahrnehmung des Strippens wird darüber nicht wirklich gesprochen.“

Aufgrund der drastischen Lohnkürzungen und der Verfügbarkeit von Billigflügen suchen sich manche Tänzer Arbeit außerhalb von San Francisco. Sie reisen ein oder zwei Nächte pro Woche bis nach Las Vegas und Reno, bleiben aber weiterhin in der Stadt.

„Mädchen versuchen verzweifelt, einen Job zu finden, der zu ihrem Lebensstil passt oder mit dem sie zumindest über die Runden kommen“, sagte Jane.

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Apparently there is a great demand for on-call craftsmen.

Khosla Ventures and Pear VC just tripled their investment in Honey Homes, which provides a dedicated handyman to take care of all the tasks on a homeowner's to-do list. The company raised $9 million in a Series A funding round last June.

Era Ventures led the startup's most recent capital raise, an additional $9.25 million in funding that CEO and co-founder Vishwas Prabhakara called “an upside round.” (PitchBook estimated the startup's value at $39 million last June, though the company itself said that was “not accurate.”) In total, Honey Homes has raised $21.35 million in venture capital since its inception.

So what was the reason for the latest capital injection? A surge in member adoption. The company announced last fall that it had doubled its membership to “well over 1,000 members” in three months. It also grew annual recurring revenue by 3.6x by 2023. While the company declined to provide specific revenue numbers, Prabhakara said the company expects to “do the same and hit eight-digit ARR in 2024.” (Eight-digits is $10 million, of course.)

“Our team visits over 150 homes every day,” he added.

Husband and wife team Vishwas Prabhakara (Yelp's first CEO) and Avantika Prabhakara (former marketing director at Opendoor, Trulia, and Zillow) co-founded Honey Homes in 2021 with Katie Pham and Rory O'Connell. The startup, which launched with its first 10 beta customers in August of that year, hires the handyman as part of its staff. The handyman works as an employee to ensure that work is done consistently in a person's home.

Homeowners pay Honey Homes a flat fee for the convenience of an “end-to-end” membership-based service through the app. This fee ranges from $250 to $395 per month depending on location, although there are discounted annual plans available.

The way it works is that members are assigned a dedicated tradesman who comes by at least once a month to take care of renovations and preventative maintenance. Because employees are permanent, they also receive benefits like parental leave and paid vacation, a rarity in an industry that has traditionally relied on contract workers. However, if someone wants to try out different contract workers for variety, they have that option too.

Honey Homes is currently available to single-family homeowners in the San Francisco Bay Area (including the city itself) as well as much of the Dallas-Fort Worth region. It recently launched in Los Angeles and is currently expanding there as well, with plans to expand further in Texas as well.

“We cover about five times more households in our service area than we did a year ago,” said Vishwas Prabhakara.

Honey Homes only launched in San Francisco earlier this year, but according to Vishwas Prabhakara, this market is currently the fastest growing.

“The city is a different caliber [than the suburbs],” he said. “There are parking issues, there are crime issues, there's a lot to think about. But now it's actually kind of our crown jewel, our fastest growing market.”

The startup is also adding new features, such as AI, to streamline workflow for its team of tradesmen and provide more “maintenance requests on autopilot.”

Interestingly, DoorDash co-founder Evan Moore sits on Honey Homes' board of directors, and another DoorDash veteran, Andrew Ladd, was hired last year to spearhead Honey Homes' product development.

Moore told TechCrunch last year that he believes Honey Homes is different from many other consumer startups in the home services space that simply connect homeowners with potential providers or “act as a concierge.” Competitors include Angi, TaskRabbit and Thumbtack, among others.

According to Vishwas Prabhakara, the company decided to pursue an extension instead of a Series B after concluding that it needed less capital to become profitable than previously expected. (The company aims to be profitable in the next few years.) In addition to membership revenue, the average homeowner spends over $750 per year on additional services provided by the service, such as purchasing replacement parts.

Honey Homes currently employs 75 people and has doubled its team of craftsmen from 25 to over 50.

Clelia Peters of Era Ventures said she chose to invest in Honey Homes because “high-quality home maintenance services from a dedicated handyman were typically reserved for only the wealthiest homeowners or those who owned condos and apartments with on-site caretakers.”

She believes the need for Honey Homes' offering will be even greater in a world where homeowners are required to stay in and maintain their homes for longer periods of time (due to the lock-in effect caused by skyrocketing interest rates).”

“In addition, we expect the trend towards home electrification to lead to greater demand for reliable advice and installation services. Honey Homes is well positioned to provide these services,” she added.

The post Khosla Ventures, Pear VC triple down on Honey Houses, a sensible strategy to rent a handyman appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Yes, that's right, there really is a “Handyman Song #12.” There were at least 11 previous versions, so I decided this would be the last one. How did that come about? It's a long story, a very long story. As a self-employed handyman for the past 16 years, I chose to promote myself in a variety of ways. As a self-published poet for the past 48 years, rhymes came easily to me. As a former graphic designer and manager and supervisor and illustrator and graduate engineer for 52 years and before that, making things in the corporate world was always a breeze for me. My parents were both very creative, as were my three younger brothers, and I had three uncles who were in the Seabees in WWII (carpenter, welder, and machinist). Creative stuff is in my blood. My dad had both arms amputated in WWII, so I grew up learning how to use my hands from a man who had none.
I grew up in Walnut Creek, graduated from Las Lomas High School in 1960, attended Diablo Valley College, and received an AA degree in general education in 1963. That same year I transferred to UC Berkeley as a junior in mechanical design. By 1966 I had both my bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical design. Sometime in the 1980s I earned a certificate in graphic design in UC extension courses in San Francisco and Berkeley. I have owned a Macintosh computer since 1994. Before that, my graphics group at Bechtel SF were wizards in the field of marketing communications using Macs until Bechtel decided to close its SF regional office at 50 Beale Street, one block from Market. The photos for the ad were either shot myself or pulled from the Internet. A good friend of mine found the lady with the smeared lipstick on the Internet. Who knew such a shot existed? Enjoy!

(Graphics by Peter Bray)

Peter Bray has lived, worked and written in Benicia since 1982 and has written this column since 2008.

The post The A Cappella Handyman: Handyman Track #12 appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.