Supervisors approve broad rent-stabilization amendments, split on roommate rule

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Sept. 22 passed a package of amendments to the city's residential rent stabilization and arbitration ordinance aimed at reducing evictions for minor lease violations and codifying local protections now allowed under state law.

The package passed the board on a divided roll call for a single, narrowly drawn occupancy provision and then passed the remaining ordinance unanimously on first reading. The divided vote on the occupancy subsection was 7-4 in favor of the narrower version; the final vote on the remainder of the ordinance was 11-0.

The ordinance's author, Supervisor Jane Kim, told the board the measures respond to a rising number of evictions and displacement in the city, and she summarized the main changes: requiring eviction notices in multiple languages; requiring landlords to provide proof for alleged violations in so-called 'low-fault' cases; giving tenants a reasonable opportunity to cure petty violations; clarifying that illegal residential occupancy (for example, units not lawful for…