New Report Finds up to $32m in Monthly COVID Back Rent, As Supervisors Vote on Rent Relief Fund
San Francisco tenants have as much as $32 million per month of unpaid rent due to COVID, according to a Budget and Legislative Analyst report released today. The report comes on the same day the Board of Supervisors will vote on a first-in-the-nation program to provide relief to small property owners with tenants unable to make their rent, authored by Supervisor Dean Preston.
“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. “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.”
Revenue for the Rent Resolution and Relief Fund is intended to come from money raised by Proposition I, a ballot measure that proposes to increase taxes on the highest-end real estate sales, valued at $10 million or more. The fund will allow small landlords -- defined as owning 10 or fewer units in San Francisco -- who voluntarily waive the debt obligation from tenants impacted by COVID to receive 50% of the rent owed, or up to 65% if the landlord is facing hardship.
“Tenants shouldn’t have to live under the stress of rising rent debt because they lost income through no fault of their own,” said Scott Weaver, a tenant attorney and member of the San Francisco Tenants Union. “This is a creative solution that provides relief both for struggling tenants and landlords.”
The BLA report, which combined datasets from the Census Bureau, the San
Francisco Apartment Association, and the Terner Center for Housing Innovation
at UC Berkeley, among others, found that approximately 33,200 tenants in San Francisco lost income due to COVID. While the City’s Give2SF program has helped some tenants in need through philanthropic donations, the report notes that nearly all funds from that program have been allocated or committed, and the program has not come close to meeting the need across the city.
“Without our Rent Relief program, there is no other plan on the table to help the San Franciscans with the greatest need get back on their feet while keeping the roof over their head,” said Preston. “By demanding more from wealthy real estate investors through Prop I, we hope to create a model that can be used across the state and nationwide for a fair economic recovery in the face of this public health crisis.”