SAN FRANCISCO—Ordinance No. 93-20 was passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to combat the rising unemployment rate on Tuesday, October 27.
On the city of San Francisco website, a webpage was published to guide landlords and tenants through the changes being made because of COVID-19. For tenants not able to pay rent between September 1, 2020 – January 31, 2021, the ordinance prohibits eviction as long as the resident can provide proof of hardship.
The ordinance does give landlords the right to take a tenant to small claims court regarding unpaid rent, effective on March 1, 2020. It re-allows evictions after February 1, 2021. This law also gives tenants a chance to pay 25 percent of the rent between from September 2020 thru January 2021 by January 31, 2021.
San Francisco Board Supervisor Dean Preston, who created the legislation, announced that landlords in the city have lost $32 million in unpaid rent since the pandemic began.
“We are providing a roadmap for recovery, and that means making sure renters and small landlords are not left out in the cold if tenants can’t pay rent because of COVID,” said Preston in a statement. “San Franciscans have a choice: Leave vulnerable tenants saddled by rent debt and small property owners at risk of default, or slightly increase taxes on billionaire real estate investors to help pay for our recovery efforts.”
Written By Kara McKeon and Donald Roberts
