But much of San Francisco is under rent control. So, if youve been living in your place for a couple of years, chances are youre paying a lot less. So, theres a huge financial incentive to evict longtime tenants in order to charge new tenants a lot more. Last year, San Franciscos eviction rate was the highest in a decade. Now, were exposing how some landlords are profiting off a loophole that may have led to hundreds of wrongful evictions, families that once called San Francisco home now kicked out. Female all righty, you can have this. You want to eat this first . Announcer Angelique Rochelle and her daughter leona have lived in this oakland apartment for 2 years, but they still dont consider it home. This is where they say they should be living, a San Francisco apartment that was their home for nearly a decade, until they were forced to leave. Angelique i was trying to do my best to stay there with 10 years of my kids in school and my whole community there. Bigad your whole life was there. Angelique yeah, my whole life was there. Its still there. Announcer in San Francisco, landlords can legally kick out their tenants if they, or in some cases their relatives, want to move in. Its called an owner movein eviction. And when rochelle, a single mom, got her eviction notice, she and her three kids had to leave their home that had been under rent control for 10 years. Bigad you couldnt find a place that you could afford that could fit all of you after that. Angelique yeah, itd been impossible. Announcer her two oldest children went to live with their dad in San Francisco, and rochelle moved to oakland with her youngest daughter. Angelique its kind of like having your kids taken away from you. Its hard. Announcer San Francisco was home to 413 of those evictions last year, the most seen this decade. To find out whats behind the spike, we obtained city records for an entire years worth of evictions. The hundreds of pages list every landlord or Family Member that was supposed to move into a home as part of an eviction in 2014. By law, they had to intend to live there for at least 3 years before renting to someone new. But our investigation uncovered what appears to be widespread abuse. Michael what we found, you know, was pretty astonishing. Announcer thats my producer, michael bott. We, along with other members of our Investigative Unit, spent 6 months traveling all across the city. We went door to door to nearly 300 of those homes to find out whos actually living there. We interviewed more than 100 people about their living situation. And in 24 cases, thats nearly 1 in 4 of all the evictions we looked into, the landlord or Family Member was not living in the home, an apparent violation of the citys own housing laws. That rate of abuse means hundreds of people may have been wrongfully evicted just over the past few years. Bigad does anyone actually check if the people that should have moved in are the ones actually living there . Robert collins no, we dont check. Announcer Robert Collins is the executive director of the San Francisco rent board, the agency in charge of investigating wrongful evictions. The office doesnt require any proof of residency after an eviction, but does investigate cases when someone files a complaint. Bigad so, the people who are evicted basically have to take it upon themselves to be their own sort of private investigator. Robert at this point, yes. Announcer collins says the best option for people is to take their landlords to court. If youve been wrongly evicted, San Francisco law allows you to collect hefty damages that can total millions of dollars. Robert we are talking about peoples houses, peoples homes if you would. And were facing an affordability crisis, so yeah, theres really no way to minimize how important that is. Jane kim its tragic and very unfortunate. Announcer we showed our findings to San Francisco supervisor jane kim. Bigad where has the city been . Why doesnt there appear to be oversight . Jane well, like many laws on the books, we are a complaint driven enforcement system. But i think it would help if we started doing these random audits and prosecuting owners that were finding that are flagrantly evading the law. Announcer each month, the San Francisco rent board submits a random sampling of owner movein evictions to the District Attorneys Office so they can investigate whether landlords are illegally evicting tenants. Bigad it doesnt seem to be working. Alex im not necessarily disagreeing with you at all on that point. Announcer Alex Sebastian is an assistant da. He says a decade Old Supreme Court ruling makes it nearly impossible to prove a landlord actually intended to commit fraud. Plus, he says the random list of evictions his Office Receives each month doesnt actually provide any leads. Alex we need to have a reasonable suspicion that a crime is occurring. Bigad the whole reason theyre giving it to you is so that your team can investigate and find criminal wrongdoing. Alex correct. And we do look into the forms, and we do look into this area of the law to see what we can do as far as prosecuting cases. Bigad can you tell me how many cases youve actually looked into . Alex i dont have a number for you, unfortunately. Bigad is it possible that its zero . Alex i wouldnt say anything isi wouldnt say thats correct. Bigad but you cant tell me what the number is. Alex i cant. Bigad but he could tell us how many landlords the das office has prosecuted for using this kind of eviction to wrongfully kick out tenants, zero. Over the past 10 years, not a single person. Announcer coming up, the financial and emotional cost of battling a wrongful eviction. Bigad how much have you spent fighting this over the years . Elizabeth lee im up to 42,000 for sure. I used all my savings, and so its been really difficult. Announcer and still ahead, frustration fills city hall. Female we need to catch these bad actors, and we need to make them pay. Announcer lawmakers call a special hearing after our investigation exposes whats likely widespread abuse. Male until nbc bay area came along, city hall wasnt doing its job. Full of nightmares. The stacks of documents include eviction letters and lawsuits all involving her landlord, who has repeatedly tried to evict her from her San Francisco home of 27 years. Elizabeth where would i go . I mean, theres no way i could afford to live in the city. Announcer lee is under rent control, paying just 1,200 a month for her 2 bedroom apartment. She says her landlord, martin eng, started trying to get her to leave soon after he bought her building. He sued her in 2010, arguing the longtime Flight Attendant violated several parts of her lease, including using her home for illegal activities. Bigad he said you were using this apartment to run a prostitution ring basically . Elizabeth yes, yes, and drug use. Announcer lee denies the accusations, but says to avoid a pricy legal battle, her renters insurance decided to settle that lawsuit, which allowed her to stay in her home. But the landlord didnt stop trying to kick her out. Bigad you started getting eviction notices in the mail. Elizabeth yes, in the mail, taped to my door. You know, slid under the door. Announcer her landlord served her four different eviction notices over 2 years, telling her she had to move out because now he wanted to move in. But lee didnt believe it. Elizabeth in the middle unit, middle floor, no, he wouldhe has no intention of moving in. Announcer our series exposed a critical lack of oversight that allowed landlords to abuse the system. We revealed how rent controlled tenants, potentially hundreds over the past few years, were wrongfully kicked out in order to have new people move in at a much higher rent. Female we need to catch these bad actors, and we need to make them pay. Announcer after our first few reports aired, frustration filled city hall when more than 60 renters and housing advocates lined up to share their eviction stories. Male so, im suspicious of the landlords motives. I dont want to fight her in court. Announcer lawmakers called the special hearing after our investigation revealed nearly one in four owner movein evictions appeared to violate the citys own laws. Female and while they are not a city agency, i should also recognize and thank nbc Investigative Unit for taking the time to do the work that i would hope that we would be doing, but clearly helping us to highlight this issue. Announcer remember, our investigation revealed that, during the past decade, the District Attorneys Office hasnt prosecuted a single landlord for abusing these kinds of evictions, which amazes Elizabeth Lee since the San Francisco rent board actually recommended the das office consider taking action against her landlord. A judge found he engaged in fraud, intimidation, and coercion. Taking her landlord to court kept lee in her home, but she was still left with a mountain of legal bills and the lingering fear that her landlord will try to evict her again. Bigad how much have you spent fighting this over the years . Elizabeth im up to 42,000 for sure. I used all my savings, and so its been really difficult. Announcer lees landlord, martin eng, told us hed sit down with us for an interview, but then stopped returning our calls. Over the phone, he told us, im probably one of the best, honest landlords in San Francisco. Theyre trying to say i had bad intentions, but how do they know if im going to move in or not . This is a tenant from hell. She is as nasty as anything. Coming up, forced out and fed up. Nicole delisi until the laws are changed to protect us, its going to continue. Announcer a schoolteacher tries to fend off her eviction in court. Why she says winning can still feel a lot like losing. Nicole it was one of the worst experiences of my life. For mildtomoderate eczema . It can be used almost everywhere on almost everybody. The face of a fisherman . The hand of a ranch hand . The knee of a needle pointer . Prescription eucrisa is a nose to toes eczema ointment. It blocks overactive pde4 enzymes within your skin. And its steroidfree. Do not use if you are allergic to eucrisa or its ingredients. Allergic reactions may occur at or near the application site. The most common side effect is application site pain. Ask your doctor about eucrisa. And then open the book. Announcer longtime teacher Nicole Delisi says talk of the bay areas housing crisis has even reached her fourth grade classroom. Shes overheard students and their families chatting about soaring rent, and the fear of being evicted from their rent controlled apartments. Bigad how often would you hear parents talking about it . Nicole regularly. Announcer but it still came as a shock when those fears became her reality. Nicoles San Francisco apartment was sold to a new owner, who decided to evict nicole about a year later. Nicole theres not a day that goes by i dont miss it. Bigad so, what was the reason your landlord gave for evicting you . Nicole his brotherinlaw was going to move in. Announcer right now, landlords and their relatives dont have to provide any proof they actually moved into their home after evicting their tenants. San francisco was home to 413 of these kinds of evictions last year, a 200 spike from just 5 years ago. Mark farrell no one tolerates fraud. Announcer San Francisco supervisor mark farrell proposed a new law to fight illegal evictions. The changes would make it easier for the District Attorneys Office to file criminal charges against landlords who wrongfully try to kick out tenants. Mark it was the great work of nbc that really turned up the volume, i think, to really talk about and identify and expose the amount of fraudulent practices that is happening in this area. Announcer Nicole Delisi was only paying 1,450 per month for her one bedroom apartment, so she says it was clear her landlord could have made a lot more money by renting to someone new. Nicole the people above me that had recently moved in were paying over 3,000 for the exact same unit. I wondered if there was any ulterior motive. Announcer so, to find out, nicoles only option was to sue her landlord, which meant her attorney got to question the brotherinlaw to see if he really was going to move in. Male i dont know anything about it. Announcer neither he nor the landlord would talk to us for our story. But when questioned by nicoles attorney, the brotherinlaw couldnt answer basic questions about the apartment he was supposed to be moving into. Male have you ever been told about the layout . Male no. Male have you ever been told how many bedrooms it is . Male no. Mark hooshmand he hadnt seen the unit before moving in. Announcer Mark Hooshmand is nicoles lawyer. Mark i think this is a way that landlords are circumventing the rules to maximize their profits. Announcer he ultimately won nicoles case. She wont reveal how much she was awarded, but says no amount of money makes up for being forced out of her home. Nicole it was one of the worst experiences of my life. Announcer nicole says she couldnt afford to stay in the city. She now lives across the bay in alameda, but believes more oversight could have kept her out of court and in San Francisco, her home of 15 years. Nicole until the laws are changed to protect us, its going to continue. Announcer coming up. Female please call the roll. Announcer a major vote to rewrite San Franciscos housing laws. Bigad whats at stake here . Aaron whats at stake is peoples lives. Announcer and still ahead, then mayor ed lee on San Franciscos housing crisis and his own legacy, in his final sit down interview before his death. Bigad was the previous system essentially set up to fail . Ed lee we didnt think people would abuse their ownand use their own families to abuse the system. Announcer in a united and symbolic vote, the San Francisco board of supervisors made way for sweeping changes. Female the ordinance as amended passes unanimously on the first reading. Announcer that will soon affect hundreds of thousands of renters and landlords across the city. Mark these reforms take away the incentive to turn a quick buck and put people over profits. Announcer supervisor mark farrell authored the legislation that aims to reduce the number of fraudulent evictions in the city. Mark and i believe we have to do everything in our power to stem the tide of wrongful evictions, and to give tenants a fighting chance of staying in our city. Announcer the new law requires homeowners to sign a declaration under penalty of perjury that they intend to move in within 3 months of the eviction, and stay there for at least 3 years. Landlords will also have to submit an electric bill or Voter Registration as proof they moved in. Aaron until nbc bay area came along and actually gave us some hard numbers, city hall wasnt doing its job. Announcer supervisors aaron peskin and jane kim helped develop many of the ideas now included in the legislation. They originally pushed their own competing plan, but a board compromise melded their legislation with farrells. They hope the reforms make it easier for the District Attorney to prosecute landlords who evict tenants, but never actually move in. Aaron this is now the most expensive to live in the United States of america, and that has given incentive for speculators to unceremoniously kick people out in any way that they can. Bigad whats at stake here . Aaron whats at stake is peoples lives. Because San Francisco has rent control, theres a profit motive. And so, you have landlords who come in, claim that theyre going to move into the unit or move their parents into the unit, but its just a ruse in order to get a tenant out. Announcer over the past few months, dozens of tenants and housing advocates testified at city hall. Female no one disagrees with the findings of the Nbc Television investigation, and no one disagrees that those omi evictions have skyrocketed. Announcer crowds even rallied on the front steps of city hall to support reform. Female the nbc story last fall shocked many people, including our political leaders. Female because we need effective legislation. And when do we need it . All now. Announcer and even if you havent been kicked out of your home, the new law could impact you too. If youre renting or someone was wrongfully evicted, youre entitled to their cheaper rent for up to 5 years after that eviction. That means some tenants could cut their rent by half or even more. The legislation also allows nonprofits to sue landlords on behalf of tenants who believe theyve been wrongfully evicted. Ed there is a housing crisis in San Francisco. Its been a crisis in the making. Announcer just 2 months before his sudden death, then mayor ed lee spoke with us during what would be his final sit down interview. We discussed our investigation and the legacy he hoped to leave after signing the housing reforms into law. Ed we believe that the protections that were putting in will help seriously curb abuse. Bigad why wasnt anything done before our investigation . Ed i simply think that both the board of supervisors and the Mayors Office believed when owners said they had a relative to move in that that wasthats a legitimate reason. Based on not only your investigation, but the numbers that were coming, the stories that were being reported by a myriad of nonprofit lawyers, this was beginning to be a little bit of a pattern. Bigad shouldnt someone have been checking all along before we exposed any of this . Ed well, its hard. Once a tenant moves out, they generally dont have a whole lot of reasons to check back. It takes a little bit of time to develop that kind of data to indicate that its a serious problem. Bigad was the previous system essentially set up to fail . Ed well, it was the honor system. It wasnt double checked. We didnt think people would abuse their ownand use their own families to abuse the system. Bigad was it ever really feasible to think an honor system would actually work with so much money at stake . Ed well, with the housing crisis, people become somewhat desperate to accomplish whatever financial goals that they have. And i think we were approaching it in a very solid way. Should we have done that earlier . Well, we couldnt call people liars until we had the evidence. Announcer which brings us back to Angelique Rochelle. She and her family were evicted after the owner of their building said his mother was moving in. Angelique yeah, i think he said she was sick, but at one point she was going to help out with the family. Announcer the eviction filed with the city shows the landlords mom was supposed to continue living there through june 2017, but thats not what happened. When we checked out the building in late 2016, we found brand new tenants renting. And by the looks of this online ad, the apartment has been completely renovated. The listed price, 5,000 a month. Thats nearly three times the price of what rochelle was paying. Bigad your whole life changed because they said you have to move out because a Family Member is moving in. Angelique mmhmm. Bigad but it turns out that family isnt living there. Angelique not sure what to say to that. I mean, surprise. Announcer the landlord declined to speak with us, and the new tenants didnt want to talk either. But what they didnt realize was that if their landlord couldnt defend the eviction, they were actually entitled to lock in rochelles significantly cheaper rent. Countless others across San Francisco may also be eligible and not even know it. Robert you might end up having really much better rent than you thought you would ever had. Michael extend that to an entire year of rent and were talking savings of 30,000, 35,000 in some cases. Angelique were you able to get your homework done . Female mmhmm. Announcer Angelique Rochelle says landlords shouldnt be allowed to kick anyone out until they first prove that they or their Family Members are actually moving in. Angelique if thats the sole reason theyre able to have families split apart angelique bye, boo boo. Love you. Angelique then definitely theyou know, they need to show that thats what theyre doing. Bigad the new housing reforms here in San Francisco officially take effect january 1. And we also want you to know our investigation is now expanding across the bay area. Heres a preview. Female i just feel like everything is out of control right now. Bigad like theres nothing you can do about it. Female exactly. Announcer our reporting takes us to oakland, where an eviction loophole threatens to kick out even more families, including three generations of women all under one roof. Female i shouldnt have brought that up. Announcer we expose a lack of oversight thats left oakland vulnerable to widespread fraud. Female that its like giving schoolkids, you know, a standardized test and nobody looking at the results. Not checking to see, you know, is everybody doing well . Are they failing . Can anybody read . Announcer now, lawmakers are promising action. Bigad did what we find concern you . Male very much so. If we want to protect the diversity and complexity of ourof our renting population, our total population, we have to make sure that people are not kicked out. Bigad we will have that and more for you in the weeks and months to come, so we hope youll stay tuned. For now, im bigad shaban. And on behalf of our entire team, thanks for watching nbc bay area, where we investigate. Oh, a royal wedding, harry and meghan, two hollywood love triang tgle triangles, and who is the style star of the year . Im scott evans, and our year end review is here, 2017fuls so jampacked. This is going to be a lot of work, guys. Ive got audrey, cleo, and james with me to talk the biggest stories of the year, the biggest one, though, i mean, Sexual Harassment in hollywood. Have you noticed . Have you felt a shift or what . Oh, absolutely, we felt a shift. With the trending of me, too youre not sexually harassed anymore . Yeah, i mean, i really have noticed a change for sure, and i think its been amazing to see the response and to see people believing the people that come forward and see Different Industries taking steps to remove people that are doing things they shouldnt be doing from hollywood and beyond. I think the most jarring thing is how quickly people fell. I mean, their careers literally have been undone with one facebook post, one tweet. As far as longer term ramifications, i think we still have to wait and see. Who are the people who are going to rise up . Will we see more women coming to