FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more info: Tommi Avicolli Mecca, Housing Rights Committee,  415-703-8634/ 361-2940, avimecca@yahoo.com

What: Protest against Ellis Act Evictions
When: Weds., Dec. 19 @ Noon
Where: 18th & Castro at the Xmas tree
Who: Tenants facing evictions in 3 neighborhoods; Housing groups

Happy Holidays, Now Get the Hell Out!

SAN FRANCISCO– Tenants facing Ellis Act evictions from three neighborhoods will gather at the Xmas tree at 18th & Castro on Wednesday, December 19 at 12 noon to demand that City and state elected officials do something to stop their evictions and the evictions of other tenants who are being tossed out of their apartments during this holiday season.

Tenant organizations in San Francisco are reporting an increase in Ellis Act evictions motivated by a desire to sell apartments as tenancies-in-common (TICs).  “In the last 2 months our SF Tenant’s Rights clinic has seen at least 5 Ellis Act cases through our office alone,” says Lucia Kimble of Causa Justa/Just Cause.

Supervisor Scott Wiener, whose district includes 18th & Castro, has introduced legislation to allow up to 2,000 TICs to condo convert, a move that tenant advocates say will give more incentive to landlords and realtors to do more evictions.

The tenants facing eviction are from several different buildings in the Mission, Castro and Chinatown/North Beach. Among them are people with AIDS, seniors, immigrants and disabled people. Many are long-term tenants who have nowhere else to go.

“Imagine getting an eviction notice for the holidays, talk about the Grinch that stole Christmas!” said Tommi Avicolli Mecca of the Housing Rights Committee. “With the real-estate market so hot in the City right now, we can only expect that it’s going to get worse.”

Added Kimble, “It’s really the most vulnerable tenants and those least able to relocate that end up being targeted by the Ellis Act. It’s got to stop. City and state elected officials need to do something, and do it now.”

Co-sponsored by Housing Rights Committee, Causa Justa/Just Cause, Chinatown Community Development Corporation, Senior Disability Action, Gray Panthers, Community Not Commodity/Occupride, Occupy Housing, Interesting Times Gang, SF Tenants Union and others.