SF tenants’ lengthy eviction nightmare ends with constructing bought to nonprofit :: Bay Space Reporter

The end of a standoff between landlords and tenants at an apartment building near Mission Dolores Park was heralded with a jubilant April 6 press conference announcing that a nonprofit organization had acquired the building — and allowed tenants to remain.

The Mission Economic Development Agency acquired the building at 3661 19th Street for $7.48 million under the city’s Small Sites Program, funded by the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development.

As the Bay Area Reporter reported back in 2021, the 12-unit rent-controlled complex was purchased by two limited companies in August 2018. Shortly after the purchase — despite alleged assurances from a previous owner — the LLCs began seeking evictions from the tenants through the Ellis Act.

The Ellis Act, enacted in 1985 by then-Governor George Deukmejian, is a state law that prevents local authorities from prohibiting evictions if the owner decides to go out of business as a landlord. It was one of the few forms of evictions allowed to continue during the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the mayor’s housing office, MEDA has now bought the building through the city’s small construction program.

“MEDA officially purchased the site on January 27, 2023, ending a no-fault eviction under the Ellis Act that would have ousted longtime BIPOC [Black, Indigenous and people of color]LGBTQ+ and seniors,” explained Anne Stanley, communications manager for the office. The building is now preserved as permanent, affordable housing and will be rehabilitated to address seismic, electrical, plumbing, elevator and roofing improvements.

According to a fact sheet from the Citywide Affordable Housing Loan Committee, the city has committed $9.9 million in permanent financing for the building, including acquisition and rehabilitation. The source of funding is general notes.

Jose Garcia, head of the conservation program at MEDA, said at the press conference: “We are proud to have worked with these residents and the community to make this possible.”

Eric Shaw, a gay black man who is the director of the MOHCD, told the BAR that “central to our office’s mission is investing in programs that support efforts to combat displacement and increase housing stability for all San Franciscos.”

“The takeover of 3661 19th Street ended an innocent Ellis Act eviction that would have evicted longtime San Francisco residents,” he said. “The 12-unit building now remains permanently affordable for current and future tenants.”

Tenant Paul Mooney – who played a key role in organizing his flatmates – celebrated the win.

“I’m happy to announce that we won!” said Mooney. “I moved to San Francisco as a gay man, looking for a community of my own, looking for a place to call home. I love it here: this wonderful, weird, crazy city and neighborhood. I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else as magical as this place.”

Mooney’s persistence was applauded several times during the press conference — from diverting his morning walk so he could check in at MEDA’s offices to buying fake charcoal and having it delivered to the former landlords at their homes in Redwood City, like the BAR did at the time reported .

Mooney said it was proof “that you can beat the Ellis Act.

Steve Collier, a gay man and attorney for the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, said, “It was really a struggle on all fronts.” By pushing the previous landlords both in and out of the courtroom, Collier said the tenants were able to clear them make it make more financial sense for them to take a deal.

“Their whole business plan was to get the tenants out in three months,” Collier said at the news conference. “It’s crazy to think they can get away with it in San Francisco.”

“Not with Steve Collier,” interjected Rafael Mandelman, District 8’s gay supervisor. The building is in his district.

“It’s a great outcome for these tenants, and it’s also great that District 8 will have 12 more sustainable affordable units in a neighborhood that has experienced significant gentrification and displacement,” Mandelman told the BAR. “I am very grateful to the Mayor’s Office, MEDA, the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, community attorneys and the residents themselves for their perseverance.”

Mandelman said at the press conference that Districts 8 and 9 (the Mission) are the epicenter of no-fault evictions in the city.

“These are wonderful communities and the things that make them wonderful to live in make them wonderful for speculators,” the supervisor said.

“There’s a special place in heaven for lawyers in San Francisco, on the frontlines every day,” he added, thanking Collier for his 36-year commitment to fighting evictions.

The building’s current occupants are 60% LGBTQ, 50% Asian American/BIPOC, and half seniors, “a large majority.” [of] People with disabilities,” says a MEDA leaflet.

Larry Kuester, a gay man who has lived in the building for 33 years, the longest of any tenant according to MEDA, is just glad it’s over.

“It was extremely stressful,” he said. “I am very happy. This is the best news we could have received.”

The former owners of the property could not be reached for comment.

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