San Francisco seeks to guard renters’ facilities underneath new proposal
SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco supervisor Rafael Mandelman proposed an ordinance Tuesday that would prohibit landlords from violating leases by depriving tenants of amenities such as storage, parking, bike storage or laundry.
The proposed regulation would require landlords to provide a just cause for the removal of existing facilities, Mandelman said, and would effectively extend the same remedies that apply to unlawful evictions to cases of illegal removal of housing services.
Mandelman said landlords removed such services when converting garages and common spaces into new rental units known as additional housing units, or ADUs.
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He said he drafted the ordinance after hearing an increase in such cases over the past few months reported to his office by tenants in District 8.
“Adding a new unit or two or more to existing buildings can be a great way to increase the number of homes in our neighborhoods, but adding new homes shouldn’t come at the expense of current tenants,” he said. “It’s not okay to take away storage rooms, parking lots, bike rooms, or laundry that people have relied on for years and that have the right to continue to enjoy being part of their home.”
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Mandelman said his office reached out to the San Francisco Housing Rights Committee – a tenant rights organization – which was aware of similar cases in at least 10 other residential buildings in the San Francisco area.
“Landlords should build ADUs to create new rent-controlled homes, not to remove contracted housing services from existing tenants,” said Brad Hirn, a senior organizer of the group. “The problem becomes even more troubling when we see some of SF’s largest real estate investment firms using ADUs to segregate services and exacerbate long-term renters displacement.”
