Mayor Lurie turns to progressives to tackle San Francisco’s rent crises

Proclaiming a “rent emergency” in San Francisco, Mayor Daniel Lurie announced a series of tenant protections Thursday morning that he says will fight the city’s rapidly escalating affordability crisis.

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The mayor’s proposed reforms include six ordinances and more than $30 million in investments, and addresses three areas fueling the rent emergency: protections from unwarranted evictions and “sudden rent spikes” while beefing up the city’s enforcement of tenant rights. 

Lurie did not announce any immediate action and it’s unclear when renters in the city can expect any tangible relief as the median rent in San Francisco has risen over 25% in the last year.

The incredible increase in prices has allowed some landlords to take advantage of the booming economy by driving rents up to “astronomical” levels, according to City Attorney David Chiu. The city is now asking renters to report any wrongdoing to the city attorney’s office.

“Most landlords follow the rules, but during this economy, we’re hearing about some bad actors taking unfair advantage and breaking the law,” Chiu told SFGATE by phone on Thursday.

While local and state law limit some rent increases, there are numerous carve-outs to those laws that leave many San Francisco renters at risk of unlimited rent increases. Some tenants have seen rent increases as high as 90% during this latest housing crisis. 

Dave Wasserman with the Coalition for Better Housing questioned how Lurie’s emergency package can effectively address affordability in San Francisco, which continues to suffer from a lack of housing.

“It’s hard to change human behavior with regulations because people find a way around it,” Wasserman said by phone Thursday. “The best solution is to encourage new construction.” 

Lurie’s package expands funding for renter protections, including the city’s Tenant Right to Counsel program, which provides legal representation, and continuing funding for the Federal Emergency Housing Voucher, expiring this year. The mayor is also calling to enhance payments given under the Ellis Act, which offers payouts to renters if they are evicted because their landlord is removing a rental from the market. Lurie’s proposal calls for increasing payouts by 25%, or nearly $3,000 per person, to support displaced tenants.

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The emergency package announces a pair of reforms from two supervisors. District 3 Supervisor Danny Sauter is introducing a cap on a type of rent hike called a banked increase. A landlord is allowed to raise rent once a year but if they choose to abstain for two years, they can save that increased amount for a future date. Sauter’s proposal adds a 10% cap on the banked increase that’s passed on to a tenant. And District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey is sponsoring legislation to annually notify residents of rent-increase limits and just-cause eviction rules.

The mayor’s most progressive effort is to reaffirm his support for District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder’s proposed legislation to prevent evictions that are issued for less than a month’s worth of unpaid rent. 

Introduced this month, the law would bar a landlord from evicting a tenant for nonpayment unless they’re owed at least one month of the fair market rent. That standard, set by the federal government, says that fair market rents in San Francisco range from $2,485 for a studio to $3,604 for a two-bedroom unit.

The mayor and several other supervisors already threw their support behind Fielder’s ordinance, but its inclusion in the rent reform packages illustrates how Lurie is embracing platforms put forth by a longtime member of the Democratic Socialists of America. 

However, if passed, the law would support only a fourth of those facing evictions. The Eviction Defense Collaborative told Mission Local that a 2025 report showed that a quarter of evictions stemmed from nonpayment below the fair market rent. 

So far this year, the tenants rights group found that local landlords have initiated more than 2,400 evictions. Meanwhile, the mayor’s office said that evictions in San Francisco are “on pace for the most in nearly a decade.”