S.F. to extend rent freeze with landlords’ blessing

In a normal political climate, a proposal to freeze rents in San Francisco would likely elicit at least some degree of protest from property owners.

But on Monday, the city’s landlords were nowhere to be seen as the Board of Supervisors’ Land Use and Transportation Committee voted unanimously to extend a freeze on rent increases for at least another 60 days, until Sept. 23.

In fact, the San Francisco Apartment Association doesn’t have a problem with the 60day rent freeze, according to Executive Director Janan New.

“We are supportive of the moratorium extension,” said New.

The legislation, which first went into effect in April, doesn’t mean that rent increases go away forever, just that they are deferred until after the coronavirus health emergency is over. New called that “a fair compromise.”

Supervisor Aaron Peskin sponsored the legislation, which will go to the full board on Tuesday. It is cosponsored by Supervisors Dean Preston and Ahsha Safaí and is expected to pass unanimously.

“We are all in this together and everybody has to give a little bit,” said Peskin. “I am pleased that the landlord community did not oppose this common sense measure, which has been embraced unanimously by my colleagues. Given that this pandemic is not going to go away anytime soon, a 60day extension is a nobrainer.”

For landlords, squeezing a few extra dollars a month out of tenants is the least of their concerns. More pressing is the fact that, through May, landlords saw 7.5% of tenants breaking their leases, according to New, who said that the city’s apartment stock could see upward of 20% vacancy rates before the impact of the pandemic starts to ease.

Prior to the pandemic, the city had apartment vacancy rates of just under 4%.

“It’s basically a mass exodus,” she said. “And there is no job creation to bring in new people.”

San Francisco’s onebedroom rents are down 11.8% compared with a year ago, the highest drop on record and the biggest among major U.S. cities, according to Zumper. The city remains the most expensive in the country. The number of rental listings has risen about 25% in San Francisco compared to the previous year.

While property owners are not opposing the extended rent freeze, they filed a lawsuit last week to block a different new city ordinance that prevents landlords from evicting tenants due to back rent or penalties accrued during the coronavirus health emergency.

The lawsuit — filed by the San Francisco Apartment Association, the San Francisco Association of Realtors, Coalition for Better Housing and Small Property Owners of San Francisco Institute — seeks to overturn the COVID19 Tenant Protection Ordinance, which Mayor London Breed signed June 26.