SAN FRANCISCO—On Thursday, September 10, the Mayor of San Francisco announced a broad package of reforms tackling the rent emergency that is driving up the number of tenants being evicted across the city and the cost of living for many San Franciscans. The series of measures—including six proposed ordinances and more than $30 million in investments—will help protect renters from unfair evictions, prevent sudden rent spikes that can drive people out of their homes, and empower tenants with legal tools and information to exercise their rights if they are facing unlawful landlord behavior.
Mayor Lurie’s rent emergency package includes a series of measures to protect renters from unwarranted evictions:
Tenant Right to Counsel: Legislation sponsored by Mayor Lurie will expand the city’s Tenant Right to Counsel program with an additional $3 million this year, providing full-scope eviction representation to 400 households who previously would have received only partial representation. Regional research has found that tenants receiving full-scope legal representation were 39 percent more likely to remain in their homes than those receiving limited-scope representation.
Ellis Act: Legislation sponsored by Mayor Lurie will increase by 25 percent, nearly $3,000 per person, required payments to tenants being displaced under the Ellis Act to reflect the increased cost of finding a new apartment in San Francisco.
Nonpayment Evictions: Legislation sponsored by District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder will stop evictions of renters who have fallen narrowly behind on rent, preventing eviction for nonpayment unless a tenant owes at least one month of fair market rent set by the federal government.
Expiring Federal Vouchers: Legislation sponsored by the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) will unlock $27 million to keep approximately 650 extremely low-income households in their homes after key federal funding lapses this year. Federal Emergency Housing Voucher funding is set to expire at the end of 2026, four years earlier than initially anticipated—this funding will provide rental subsidies to support households as the city helps them transition to other federally funded rental subsidies.
Legal Enforcement: With City Attorney David Chiu, the city will drive renters to the City Attorney’s Office complaint portal in its tenant education efforts to expand the city’s work addressing illegal systemic practices or patterns of illegal behavior.
Know Your Rights Campaign: Led by the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development (MOHCD), the city will invest $1 million and partner with private employers to launch a “Know Your Rights” campaign, educating renters and property owners on their legal protections and responsibilities, with a focus on targeted outreach to those most vulnerable to eviction.
Mayor Lurie’s rent emergency package also includes reforms that will protect renters from sudden rent spikes that push them out of their homes:
Banked Increase Cap: Following a Budget and Legislative Analyst report evaluating banked rent increase caps, District 3 Supervisor Danny Sauter will introduce legislation to cap annual allowable rent increases from banked increases and capital improvement charges at 10% for rent controlled tenants. Property owners will be able to accrue increases, but the amount passed onto a tenant will be capped at 10% annually, protecting renters from absorbing a devastatingly large, banked increase in one year. The legislation would be effective on the date of introduction.
Tenant Notifications: Legislation sponsored by District 6 Matt Dorsey will guarantee tenants an annual reminder of rent-increase limits and just-cause eviction rules, including information to help renters assess whether their building has entered state rent regulations. New buildings are exempt from state rent regulations for 15 years after construction.
“This moment calls for stronger action to keep longtime residents in their homes, free of harassment and clear of devastating surprise rent hikes,” said Supervisor Sauter. “Alongside Mayor Lurie, I am introducing legislation to add important guardrails to the practice of banked rent. Annual rent increases from banked rent and capital improvement charges will be capped at 10% for rent-controlled tenants, bringing stability and protections to hundreds of thousands of San Franciscans. As a renter myself, I’ll continue to work to bring down the cost of housing, bolstering tenant protections and aggressively working to build more homes.”
“San Francisco is facing an eviction crisis, and we’re excited to see the mayor and Board of Supervisors act with urgency to go to bat for tenants,” said Gail Gilman, Eviction Defense Collaborative Executive Director. “Investing in Know Your Rights education and expanding legal representation for tenants facing eviction will empower tenants and help prevent displacement. This is how we stop homelessness before it starts and keep San Franciscans housed.”
For Fiscal Year 2026-2027, San Francisco dedicated more than $54 million to emergency rental assistance and eviction legal defense. That funding includes $31.3 million through MOHCD for direct financial assistance to keep San Francisco renters housed: $18.1 million in tenant-based rental subsidies for families in single-room occupancies, older adults, adults with disabilities, and youth, as well as $13.2 million in emergency rental assistance for households behind on rent.
In this year’s budget process, Mayor Lurie increased investment by 15 percent, committing more than $4 million in new funding: $2.7 million to expand rental subsidies for families in single-room occupancies and $1.1 million for older adults and adults with disabilities.
That funding includes $23.1 million this fiscal year in legal defense and advocacy for renters: $18.2 million for the Tenant Right to counsel program providing free legal representation to tenants facing eviction, $3.5 million for tenant counseling and education, and $1.3 million for tenant-landlord conflict resolution.
In the past year, the median rent in San Francisco rose 25.6 percent, with the city seeing faster rent increases than any other major city in the country in 2026. The city has seen more than 1,000 eviction notices filed in 2026, on pace for the most in nearly a decade—roughly one-quarter of them initiated because of nonpayment.
With several years of weak housing production, and the city in 2024 authorizing the lowest number of new housing units since 2010, only 2.2 percent of the city’s multifamily housing is vacant and available for rent as of June 2026—less than Oakland (4.5 percent), San Jose (4.1 percent), Chicago (6.5 percent), and New York City (3.4 percent).
