Rules Committee advances tenant assistance fund for residents displaced from hazardous housing

Supervisor Usher Safai told the Rules Committee on Dec. 11 that a hazardous multi-tenant unit at 5 Persia prompted new legislation providing short-term financial help for tenants forced from unsafe housing.

The ordinance before the committee would amend the Administrative Code to establish a Tenant Assistance Fund to help eligible tenants displaced by administrative orders to vacate issued by the Department of Building Inspection (DBI) or the Fire Department. The fund is designed as a transitional subsidy — typically six months, with the HSA director allowed to extend assistance up to two years — to help people find more permanent housing.

"We discovered a very hazardous situation at 5 Persia," Safai said, describing roughly "almost 30 individuals" living in "dungeon like conditions" in a converted basement with insufficient exits, no windows and exposed wiring. He said a master-tenant dispute led PG&E to cut power, leaving residents without electricity and leaving at least one person requiring breathing support.

Jeff Buckley of the Mayor's Office said the proposal fills a response gap revealed by the 5 Persia case, allows the city to deploy resources quickly to rehouse people in safe conditions and "also allows inputs on the hook the property owners," seeking to hold owners or master tenants responsible when they "culpably" rent substandard spaces.

Fire Marshal Dan DeCosio said the 5 Persia site represented "an illegal change of use to a residential use" and that, when a basement designed for storage is used for sleeping without adequate exits or rescue windows, it meets the fire-code threshold for imminent hazard and justified an order to vacate. The fire marshal told the committee the department received about 50 complaints of illegal conversions in roughly the past year and issued about five orders to vacate, including Persia and a recent 20 Fourth Street case.

Human Services Agency staff outlined how displaced tenants have been rehoused and the program's likely costs. Ben Ames said HSA placed five tenants from a Purchase Street case into single-room-occupancy hotels at a one-year cost to HSA of $82,800 and described the 20 Fourth Street situation as 16 rooms housing 21 people. He gave a six-month cost estimate for that project of $79,227 and said a family with an expected birth had been accommodated for one year at $9,972.

Deputy Director Susie Smith told the committee, "We're estimating about $225,000 per year for this program moving forward," but officials also referenced about $300,000 as a near-term figure tied to the fire victims assistance fund language. Supervisors pressed staff on whether those amounts would be sufficient if additional large illegal-occupancy sites were discovered and how the city would set eligibility and spending limits.

Deputy City Attorney John Givner told the committee the ordinance gives the city broad authority to seek reimbursement "from any person who created, caused, committed, or maintained the condition," which could include owners or master tenants depending on the circumstances.

An unidentified supervisor moved to pass the item out of committee with a positive recommendation as a committee report on Dec. 12. The chair ordered the item to the full Board "without objection," and the committee adjourned.

The ordinance would make the Tenant Assistance Fund discretionary (not an entitlement) and leave administration decisions and eligibility to the HSA director; the committee directed staff to continue budget work and return with funding projections during the budget process.