Helen Byrne, 94, has called the same San Francisco apartment for more than eight decades, having moved in with her father and sisters when she was 12.
Her Mission District neighborhood looks a lot different these days, but Byrne's apartment is practically a time capsule from a bygone era.
She still sleeps in her childhood room, where she now spends most of her time after a fall last year. She said she wanted to spend the rest of her life here, surrounded by her long-time friends and neighbors.
But Byrne's life was turned upside down when the four-unit building was purchased in 2020 by real estate investors operating through an LLC.
Now she and the building's other decades-long tenants are trying to fend off an eviction attempt they never expected, and they could potentially be evicted from their homes within weeks.
“It was a surprise to me, a shock to me actually, that I had to move away from here,” Byrne said. “Where should I go? I’m so used to this place.”
Byrne outlived the rest of her family and lives alone, but her neighbor Cecilia Matias helps look after her.
“Right now she is strong because of this building,” Matias said. “This apartment alone makes her feel at home.”
Matias has lived in the building herself for 40 years – the first apartment her family moved into after leaving the Philippines. She and Byrne have grown close over the years, almost like a family, they say.
“She was very good to me,” Byrne said. “She’s like a daughter to me.”
Cecilia's sister also lives in the building. This also applies to Anthony Martin, who lives with his wife and son, an Iraq war veteran. Because all of the tenants have lived in the rent-controlled building for decades, their rent is much lower than San Francisco's sky-high market rates.
This is also the reason why their new landlords have been trying to get them out of their apartments since they took over the building more than three years ago.
NBC Bay Area reviewed emails that Daniel Mytels, the manager of the LLC, sent to his lender as part of the eviction case, which outlined plans to clear the building from its inception, either through buyouts or evictions.
In a 2020 email, Mytels called the building “an almost unbelievably good value,” adding that the property is “encumbered with four long-term tenants paying a total of only about $3,800 in total rent per month.” So he outlined plans to lure tenants out and rent out the apartments at higher prices. Or, if necessary, sell the empty building.
By phone, Mytels told NBC Bay Area it was a terrible situation, but said tenants' current rent cannot cover the building's operating costs.
According to letters reviewed by NBC Bay Area, landlords initially offered tenants severance packages — essentially cash for keys — in the range of $70,000 to $85,000 per unit. Even more so when everyone in the building accepted the offer, but every tenant rejected it.
“I want to stay here for the rest of my life,” Byrne said. “I have all my friends and neighbors living here with me.”
Four months after the takeover bid was rejected, tenants were bombarded with notices saying the building's owners were invoking the Ellis Act, a law that allows landlords to evict their tenants if they leave the property for at least five Take years off the rental market. In the notices of termination they were given a notice period of four months plus a legally permissible extension of one year due to the age of the tenants.
“His goal here was speculation, pure speculation,” said Steve Collier, managing attorney for the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, a San Francisco nonprofit that combats the displacement of low-income residents.
In an email, the landlord's attorney, Raymond M. Yetka, said the owners were aware of the difficulties posed by the eviction, adding: “The owner initially attempted to award significant amounts of money to the tenants for the eviction pay. However, when all tenants refused, the landlord’s only option was to terminate the lease under the Ellis Act.”
Collier said the tenants didn't want to give up the fight, in part because Byrne had nowhere else to go.
“[The Ellis Act] is often used by speculators to empty buildings and then sell them at a higher value because the long-term rent control tenants are not in the building,” Collier said.
However, the owners' lawyer defended the move.
“The Ellis Act was created to address unintended consequences of local rent control laws and allow landlords to exit the rental market when rental prices make it impossible to function as a housing provider,” Yetka wrote in an email.
Instead of moving out, however, the tenants turned to the Tenderloin Housing Clinic for help. Their Ellis Act exit window has expired and they are now fighting an eviction lawsuit in court.
“I do not want [Byrne] to go somewhere else,” Matias said. “I told her, 'You think you don't have a family, but you do.' It's me. No matter what happens, I'll take care of you.' Even though we’re not related by blood, I feel like we’re closer.”
Even their neighborhood priest, who has known Byrne and the building's other residents for more than a decade, is there to help them.
“People are not just numbers to be discarded,” Father said. John Jimenez, priest of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. “It is wrong that this is happening. You shouldn’t have to lose the house that you’ve lived in all your life, paid your rent and done all the responsible things.”
When asked about future plans for the building, Yetka said, among other things: “…The most likely outcomes are a sale of the vacant property as a whole or conversion of the units into Tenants-in-Common-Interests (TIC) for sale to owner-occupiers.” “
Collier said the fate of Byrne and her neighbors could be decided in court soon, possibly in the next few days.
“She’s 94,” Matias said. “She has already lived her life. But let her be happy…in peace.
