August 23, 2024

Tenants at 781 O’Farrell street have gained widespread support from community groups and other tenant associations citywide as they fight for basic repairs and communication with their landlord, Veritas Investments. Veritas, also known as Greentree, is one of the largest landlords in the city.

The majority of long-time residents at 781 O’Farrell speak Mandarin or Cantonese. Some long-term residents speak Spanish. Over the years, every previous owner and manager of the building has taken the common-sense approach of sending important notices and communications to tenants in the language that they speak and read. This simple, good business practice, has been an essential component of effective property management for every previous owner and operator, but when Veritas bought the building, they refused to communicate in-language with their tenants, despite having bilingual staff who can do so. Instead, Veritas has tried to charge tenants penalties for not acting on notices they received and could not read. This is in line with a larger business practice of this corporate investor-landlord where long-term tenants are targeted for persistent harassment, increased fees, and more, with the goal of either raising rent or getting the tenant to move.

At the same time, residents have been fighting for Veritas to make basic repairs. Residents formed a tenants association to collectively address these unacceptable conditions with their new landlord. Veritas, in violation of SF’s new Tenant Right to Organize/ Union at Home law, refused to meet with tenants or recognize their association for over a year until they decided to go on rent strike. Pursuant to San Francisco’s Union at Home ordinance, landlords are required to meet with tenant associations in good faith to work together productively around issues of concern. Learn more about Tenant Right to organize at sfadc.org/rights.

Today, a wide range of neighborhood and community groups sent a letter to Veritas/ Greentree expressing support for the 781 O’Farrell tenants, including the Affordable Housing Alliance, Asian Law Caucus, Causa Justa :: Just Cause, Chinese for Affirmative Action, Chinese Progressive Association, the Community Tenants Association, District 4 Youth and Families Network, Housing Rights Committee of SF, North Beach Tenants Committee, the San Francisco Anti-Displacement Coalition, the San Francisco Tenants Union, Tenants Together, and the Tenderloin People’s Congress. Perhaps most important, tenants in a building association down the street have come out publicly to share their success in winning in-language communication from their new landlord when Veritas defaulted on the mortgage to their building and it was sold to a new owner.

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For more, see this Sing Tao USA article:

Tenants win widespread community support in fight for language access and repairs