Housing and community groups join forces to push lawmakers to pass the Hassle-Free Housing Ordinance
What: Press conference and rally in front of SF City Hall
When: Monday, Dec. 10 at noon
Why: To push lawmakers to pass the proposed Hassle-Free Housing Ordinance and to announce our disappointment that movement on this proposed ordinance has been delayed.
Who: Tenants speaking out against the growing epidemic of tenant harassment as an eviction tactic and the affect it has had on their lives.
Harassment is often used as a retaliatory tool when tenants assert their rights. Tenants should not fear that speaking up about illegal eviction attempts, habitability issues, or illegal rent increases would make them targets of harassment.
Harassment can affect all tenants in San Francisco and particularly impacts already-vulnerable renters such as elders, tenants with disabilities, immigrants, tenants whose primary language is not English and low-income tenants.
Hassle Free Housing Ordinance
The Hassle-Free Housing Ordinance will strengthen existing protections against tenant harassment by creating a clear and tenant-accessible avenue for enforcement.
Currently when a tenant is harassed by a landlord the option for enforcing protections under the Rent Ordinance is to hire a lawyer and file a lawsuit against the landlord. Many tenants who come to housing rights groups for help because they are being harassed – low-income tenants of color, seniors, tenants with disabilities, immigrant tenants – do not have the resources to hire a lawyer and so the harassment continues until the tenants decide to leave.
The Hassle-Free Housing Ordinance will make it possible for a harassed tenant to get help without having to hire a lawyer. The proposed ordinance will reclassify harassment as an illegal eviction tactic and allow the rent board to hold hearings to verify if harassment is taking place. Additionally, tenants can continue to take their claims for any damages incurred by the harassment to Small Claims Court.
The hope is that by using both the Rent Board and Small Claims court, tenants will have an avenue to more effectively address harassment and protect their rights to stay in their homes.