Happy Holidays, now get the hell out!

A press conference rally to call on local and state officials to do something about the Ellis Act, featuring tenants from buildings throughout the city who have received Ellis Act eviction notices for the holidays.


Happy Holidays, now get the hell out!

That’s what many tenants are hearing from landlords and real-estate speculators this holiday season, as they face Ellis Act evictions in the New Year. Tenants rights groups report that Ellis Act evictions are on the rise in at least three neighborhoods -- the Mission, the Castro, Haight, Sunset and Chinatown/ North Beach.

Tenants facing Ellis Act evictions, many of them immigrants, seniors, people with AIDS and other disabled persons, will gather for a press conference/rally at 18th & Castro on December 19 at 12 noon, to call on the City to do something to stop their evictions and that of other tenants by landlords and real-estate speculators intent on flipping their properties so that they can sell their units as tenancies-in-common (TICs). These tenants, who represent 10 different buildings in the Mission, Castro and Chinatown/North Beach, will also ask that our state representatives work to repeal the Ellis Act.

Tenants facing evictions will gather under the Christmas tree at 18th & Castro in Supervisor Scott Wiener’s district, where, since the late 90s, numerous people with AIDS have been evicted for tenancies-in-common (TICs). Wiener has introduced legislation to allow up to 2,000 TICs to bypass the condo conversion lottery and convert into condos. Wiener’s legislation will create an incentive for more landlords and speculators to flip more buildings, displacing more tenants like themselves.

“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 Lucia Kimble of Causa Justa/Just Cause, “It’s really the most vulnerable tenants and those least able to relocate who 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.”

Cosponsored 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.