San Francisco committee forwards temporary commercial eviction moratorium after broad public support

Chair Aaron Peskin told the Land Use and Transportation Committee on Nov. 9 that the ordinance to temporarily restrict commercial evictions aims to protect small, culturally significant businesses devastated by the COVID‑19 pandemic. Peskin cited city business registration data—100,197 active businesses in 2019, with 77% employing fewer than 10 people—and said the measure would allow tiered forbearance and repayment terms for the hardest‑hit tenants.

Public comment was dominated by small business owners and community groups from Japantown and Chinatown. The owner of Koshi, a retail stall in the Japan Center West Mall, said the business has exhausted federal assistance and faces mall‑level pressure to pay back deferred rent, warning, “We’re not gonna survive without your help.” Catherine Jackson of Perkins Coie called the ordinance a set of ‘‘guardrails’’ that preserves bargaining between landlords and tenants but provides recourse when landlords refuse to negotiate. Other speakers, including representatives of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, urged passage and asked for clear timelines and guidance for tenants to access protections.

Committee members debated and approved a set of clarifying, non‑substantive amendments that, among other things, clarify that subtenants of master tenants are eligible for protections and that certain pre‑moratorium payments be applied in a defined order for repayment calculations. Chair Peskin moved to duplicate the amended file, advance the primary ordinance as a committee report to the full Board for the Nov. 10 hearing, and to retain a duplicated file for consideration of one substantive amendment; the committee approved the recommendations by roll call (3 ayes).

The committee also approved a motion to continue the duplicated file for further committee consideration on Nov. 16. The ordinance as amended directs city staff to promulgate rules for hardship waivers and preserves tenants’ legal and equitable defenses against claims for unpaid rent.

What happens next: the committee sent the amended ordinance as a committee report with a recommendation to the full Board of Supervisors; the full Board is expected to consider the measure at the Nov. 10 meeting. The duplicated file containing a substantive amendment was continued for further committee consideration on Nov. 16.