What happens when a four-alarm fire displaces more than 35 tenants? We wanted to find out, so after covering the fire we tracked down the tenants and exposed the difficulties they face after displacement. Fast-forward to a year later and we learned that all the tenants of the building had been evicted via the Ellis Act — a state law that allows landlords to take the units off the rental market for five years. Our stories caused outrages among policymakers and residents alike.
You can help us follow stories from beginning to end by making a tax-deductible donation today.
Wow. Just when you think real estate slime molds can’t sink any lower than the $3,000/month micro-studio, they DO sink lower!
They use an “accidental” fire to throw tenants out, then keep them dangling in uncertainty for months, then Ellis Act evict them all.
I guess this is what passes for innovation these days in the real estate game: burn out tenant families, then get rewarded with a ski chalet in Aspen and a Rolls Royce!
It’s not the owners who keep tenants out of a fire-damaged building. SFFD do that, while the insurance company controls the pace of any rebuild with their rules about how claims are met, along with DBI rules about the rebuilding.
That said, when you force people to run a business at a loss, you can hardly act shocked when they come across as less than totally excited about resuming that business.
And, as noted already, the numbers may not crunch after the expense of a fire.
It’s probably worth noting that expenses can increase considerably for a property owner after a fire, even after insurance kicks in with a claim.
A building that has higher costs but which cannot charge higher rents is no longer going to be viable. So an Ellis eviction may be inevitable after a fire.
And while the tenants retain a right to return, it can take 2-3 years to fully rebuild and make whole. Not many tenants are willing to wait around that long in temporary accommodation.
So “fire then Ellis” isn’t that hard to understand. Unless of course you are suggesting that such fires are started deliberately, and I do not think you are, although I’m sure the odd landlord has been desperate enough to consider that.
Great! Much needed reporting!