September 3, 2024
San Francisco Tenant Right to Counsel attorneys representing residents in the Potrero Hill Terrace-Annex today demanded the San Francisco Housing Authority (SFHA) stop mass evictions at the complex as the first cases involving the mass evictions appear for trial. The first cases appeared for trial last Monday and the next case appears for trial today.
“Our clients are asylum seekers, working families, elderly people, and disabled children. They have lived in Potrero Hill Terrace-Annex for years and paid rent to disgraced San Francisco Housing Authority property managers who promised safe and affordable housing and instead engaged in a conspiracy to defraud our clients,” wrote Tenant Right to Counsel nonprofits whose attorneys represent the Potrero Hill Terrace-Annex residents in a letter to the San Francisco Housing Authority today. “Already, residents have left under duress, been forcibly removed by the Sheriff, and evicted to street homelessness. This must stop.”
The San Francisco Housing Authority has filed approximately 40 eviction lawsuits against residents in the complex in the past few months. The complex is slated to be redeveloped into mixed-use housing.
Residents facing eviction from the Potrero Hill Terrace-Annex have lived in the complex for years, and many paid rent to a property manager working there.
So far, the SFHA has not offered to relocate residents to transitional or permanent housing. Residents who lose their eviction cases risk having an eviction on their record, which can make it difficult for them to live in government-subsidized housing going forward. While some residents have lost their
eviction cases by not responding to the lawsuit in time, none have been decided on the merits.
That began to change last Monday when two of the Potrero Hill Terrace-Annex cases appeared for trial but were taken off calendar because the San Francisco Housing Authority failed to appear. The next case is slated to appear for trial in San Francisco Superior Court today. These cases could reach
a jury in the coming weeks.
Below is a letter sent today to the San Francisco Housing Authority from all of the Right to Counsel organizations in San Francisco. For more, see today’s SF Chronicle article “S.F. calls them ‘squatters’ but they paid rent. Now they’re being evicted” or the 8/22/24 Mission Local article “Squatters evicted after years in vacant Potrero Hill public housing units.”
San Francisco Housing Authority
ATTN: Dr. Tonia Lediju, Chief Executive Officer
Kendra Krawford, Director of Housing Operations
c/o Law Office of Todd B. Rothbard
100 Saratoga Avenue, Suite 200
Santa Clara, CA 05051
Email: office@toddrothbardlaw.com
September 3, 2024
Re: Stop mass evictions of Potrero Hill Terrace-Annex residents to street homelessness.
Dr. Lediju,
We write to implore the San Francisco Housing Authority to relocate, rather than continue to evict to street homelessness, residents in the Potrero Hill Terrace-Annex. We represent longtime residents living in Potrero Hill who are being forcibly displaced by the San Francisco Housing Authority (SFHA) with nowhere to go so that the property can be turned into a mixed-income community.
The San Francisco Housing Authority, through its inaction and blind eye, allowed your property management company’s criminal ring to flourish unabated for years, enriching staff working at the complex at the expense of San Francisco’s most vulnerable residents. Even worse, when SFHA could no longer deny the problem, you sued our clients to evict them rather than rehouse them. In the past few months alone, you have filed about 40 eviction lawsuits. Already, residents have left under duress, been forcibly removed by the Sheriff, and evicted to street homelessness. This must stop.
We therefore request the following:
- Dismiss all eviction lawsuits filed against tenants in the Potrero Hill Terrace-Annex within 14 days;
- Vacate eviction judgments already entered against any Potrero Hill Terrace-Annex residents so that residents have a fair shot at renting again;
- Meet with each Potrero Hill Terrace-Annex resident you seek to evict to assess their eligibility for transfer to a viable SFHA-subsidized unit;
- Place all eligible Potrero Hill Terrace-Annex residents on the waitlist for portable Tenant-Based Housing Choice Vouchers;
- Allow residents to remain in place until new subsidized housing is available;
- Meet with all residents and attorneys to draft a mutually agreeable plan, in accordance with the requests outlined in this letter.
We look forward to discussing a path forward.
Sincerely,
Tenant Right To Counsel organizations representing Potrero Terrace-Annex residents:
Eviction Defense Collaborative
Bay Area Legal Aid
AIDS Legal Referral Panel
Open Door Legal