Committee forwards ordinance to extend rent-control protections to HOPWA recipients

The Land Use and Transportation Committee voted by unanimous consent to forward to the full Board an ordinance that would extend San Francisco’s rent-increase protections to tenants who receive HOPWA (Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS) subsidies. The committee recommendation was made by Supervisor Scott Wiener, the item’s author, after a series of public comments and brief discussion.

Supervisor Scott Wiener said the amendment closes “a pretty glaring and troubling loophole” in the city’s rent ordinance that excludes HOPWA recipients from protections afforded to other federally assisted tenants, such as some Section 8 recipients. He described how HOPWA subsidy calculations work — the subsidy is the difference between the unit’s reasonable rent (or an established rent standard) and 30 percent of the tenant’s income — and gave an example in which a $1,500 studio with a $1,000 tenant contribution yields a $500 HOPWA subsidy that would not cover a later rent increase to $2,000, leaving the tenant to make up the shortfall.

Jamie Rush, a staff attorney at the AIDS Legal Referral Panel, and Bill Hirsch, also with the panel, testified in support of the ordinance, describing clients who are long-term HIV survivors and low-income and who depend on housing stability for their health. Jordan Gwendolyn Davis, a Housing Rights Act advocate, supported the change while warning it may come too late for tenants already displaced by gentrification. Charlie Goss of the San Francisco Apartment Association also expressed support and asked the committee not to amend the measure.

Wiener said the ordinance’s operative date is set to May 17, 2016, the date the legislation was introduced, to prevent landlords from exploiting the loophole in the short period between introduction and passage. The committee made a positive recommendation to the full Board; the motion passed by unanimous voice/consent with no roll-call tally recorded in the transcript.

The ordinance’s change is limited to local administrative code language and does not, in the committee discussion or public comment recorded here, alter federal HOPWA program rules. Committee members and advocates framed the measure as aligning local protections for HOPWA-assisted tenants with protections available to some other federally subsidized tenants.

The item will go to the full Board of Supervisors for further consideration.