Noah Arroyo is the San Francisco Public Press’ editor. He has previously worked at the San Francisco Chronicle and Mission Local, specializing in enterprise journalism.
San Francisco residents can now learn how to avoid eviction by sending a text message to a special phone number.
That service is part of an outreach campaign launched Friday by the San Francisco Anti-Displacement Coalition, a group of tenant-rights organizations. The goal: to teach people their rights and help them apply for rent assistance during the two months left before a statewide moratorium on evictions for unpaid rents expires.
The statewide eviction moratorium is set to expire Oct. 1, but San Francisco supervisors are urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to extend it to avoid a wave of COVID-19 infections from the virus’ more contagious delta variant.
The San Francisco Sheriff’s Office evicted 25 households in the two weeks of June after the state reopened for business, more than double the monthly average over the previous six months.
Sheriff Paul Miyamoto resumed evictions that had been on pause as city officials declared that San Francisco was gaining the upper hand in its fight against the coronavirus.
Thousands of San Franciscans could face eviction this fall in the likely event that government rental assistance programs run out of money. Tenants who have applied for help with rent debt are entitled to eviction protections through the end of March 2022 while they wait for an answer from authorities. But if the money runs out before they get help, then they could face eviction as early as October.
San Francisco has not prioritized neighborhoods with little recently built affordable housing when deciding which projects to fund, a public audit released this week found.
About 90% of affordable housing added in the last decade has gone to just four eastern and central neighborhoods.
A proposed three-month extension to the statewide eviction moratorium, set to expire in less than a week, could override recently approved tenant protections in San Francisco, leaving tenants vulnerable to eviction starting in October, tenant advocates said.
With time running out, not a single San Francisco resident has received a check from the city’s federally funded rent-relief program. Barely a week remains before landlords can resume evictions for unpaid rents due during the pandemic.
“I have never been evicted or homeless,” said Buddy Bates, a renter in Parkmerced and father of two. “I live in that fear constantly now.”
With less than two weeks remaining before San Francisco landlords will be allowed to evict tenants for unpaid rents that were due during the pandemic, the state had sent checks to a small fraction of the 3,400 households that have requested rent assistance. Many checks will not arrive soon enough to prevent displacement.
The statewide moratorium on evictions for unpaid rents that were due during the pandemic ends June 30 — and recent legislation by San Francisco lawmakers will not change that. State officials are working to extend the moratorium but have yet to reach an agreement. Attorneys in the city’s free legal defense system for tenants are preparing for a cascade that could overwhelm them if state talks fall through, potentially pushing throngs of people from their homes.
New protections will give renters a two-month reprieve after the state’s eviction moratorium expires June 30. But rent debts incurred before that date will still be due next month, and landlords could evict over them.
