Locally. [inaudible] clerk each speaker will be allowed to speak. Comments or statements during the meeting are available by calling 4156550001. Again, thats 4156550001. The access code is 1454836716. Again, thats 1454836716, then press pound, pounce. You will hear the meeting discussions but will be muted, in listening mode. When Public Comment comes up, dial starthree to be added to the speaker line. Best practices are to call from a quiet location, speak slowly and clearly, and turn down your television or radio. Alternatively, you may submit Public Comments in the following ways. Email myself at erica. Major sfgof. Org. Thats erica. Major sfgov. Org. Lastly, the director of the office of civic engagement, adrian pond, has applied a spanish interpreter on item 1 to assist speakers in their native language with our Public Comment. Lets have arturo consenza interpret the public remarks. [speaking spanish language]. Interpreter thats everything. Thank you. Chair peskin gracias, arturo. Madam clerk, can you read the first item . Clerk yes. Item 1 is an ordinance amending the administrative code to prohibit landlords from evicting residential tenants for nonpayment of rent that was not paid due to the covid pandemic. Chair peskin thank you, miss major. First of all, before i yield the floor to the primary author of this legislation, supervisor preston, i want to apologize to everybody who waited patiently a week ago today. Unfortunately, we were forced to cancel that meeting because the rules Committee Meeting went all day long last monday, so i want to thank everybody who waited patiently for many hours, and im sorry that that meeting had to be cancelled, but we dont have technology or staff ability to run two Committee Meetings at once in the covid19 period. With that, supervisor dean preston, the floor is yours. Supervisor preston thank you, chair peskin. Colleagues, today, im asking you to move forward with positive recommendation this legislation to provide permanent eviction protections for renters impacted by covid19. Currently, the city and county of San Francisco has banned eviction for nonpayment of rent for the duration of the Current Health crisis. The concern remains what happened after, particularly for those who have experienced loss of income, many of whom were struggling to make ends meet before the coronavirus became our new reality. Without legislative change, there can be little doubt that when the Eviction Moratorium expires, that landlords will give tenants three days to pay for quit. What will happen will be an avalanche of evictions, massive in scale and irrepairable in harm. We must do everything to oppose that change. In effect, this would permanently take nonpayment eviction off the table for San Francisco renters struggling to payback rent that came due during this state of emergency. This change would make San Francisco among the most forward thinking cities in terms of protecting vulnerable lowincome tenants, but we would not be alone. In march, the Oakland City Council passed a similar ordinance which would likewise ban nonpayment evictions for covid related rent debt thanks to the leadership of nicky fortunadobass. I know my colleagues have heard in recent days about this legislation, so i wanted to take a moment to clarify some key points. First, heres what the legislation does. It prohibits the eviction for nonpayment of rent where rent payments become due during the state of emergency and nonpayment one arose out of a substantial decrease in Household Income or substantial outofpocket expenses. Two, that was caused by the covid19 pandemic or by any local, state, or federal government response to covid19; and three, is documented. In addition, it prohibits any interest, late fees or charges to tenants for late rent, and it is clear that the delayed rent cannot be used as grounds for eviction. No one who can pay their rent on time because of a Global Pandemic, which is something out of their control, should ever have to worry about being penallized with late fees and convictions. Heres what the legislation does not do. It does not remove the obligation of the tenant to pay the rent owed. It does not remove the obligation to pay debt. A tenant with the means to pay would have every reason to follow through on their contractual obligation in the same way they would have every reason to pay their monthly credit card bill or student loan payment. For tenants who cannot pay their back rent, this legislation seeks to protect tenants from landlords who would seek to evict. There can be no doubt that if the law remains as is, the san franciscans who will soon be kicked out of their homes will be from lowincome communities, and i believe its in our duty to offer them the full protection available by law. Colleagues, i ask you, as many san franciscans have been unable to work for ten weeks and counting, to forward this legislation without delay and with a positive recommendation to the full board of supervisors, and in so doing, you would be joining a long list of organizations demanding this measure and its he is annual, including the San FranciscoTenants Union, Affordable Housing alliance, Chinatown Development center, seiu 1021, seiu 2015, seuifww, transport union local workers, harvey milk lgbtq democratic club, poder, senior and disability action, black pan they are, tenderloin Development Neighborhood corporation, latino democratic club, noe neighborhood council, Richmond District rising, united to save the mission, delores Street Community services, somcan, ace, coleman advocates, Filipino Community center, chinese for affirmative action, soma filipinos, and colleagues, before i wrap up, i would like to offer some amendments, both of which i believe to be nonsubstantista which i believe you have received from the clerk, and one that we have heard that is relative to all small Property Owners who may themselves suffer hardship in the event that they are no longer able to receive or lose rental income. And i want to point out, in particular, and thank my colleague, ahsha safai, before this legislation was introduced, he and i, on the floor, discussed relief commitments for Property Owners to make sure that no one is harmed in their housing by this pandemic. I will be introducing at tomorrows Board Meeting a package of proposals that will propose longterm housing stability, among them, an increase in the fees on real estate transfers valued at 10 million or more that would allow some relief for owners who rent to tenants who cannot pay rent or the back rent obligation. All of these are critical steps in our relief efforts, and i would be offering an amendment to this legislation to create our intention to create this rent relief fund and program. The amendment, which has been distributed, as i mentioned, to Committee Members as a paragraph at page 3, lines 11 through 13, and reads as follows, that the board of supervisors intends to create a covid19 rent resolution and relief fund whose tenants are unable to pay rent due to the impact of covid19, and im cleaning up the finding sections and reference some changes since the legislation was introduced to the mayors directive and governors executive order. And as mentioned, all of these are nonsubstantive, as im advised by the city attorney. I would like to, before wrapping up, thank my cosponsors of the legislation, supervisors hillary ronen, matt haney, shamann walton, and aaron peskin. I would like to thank my legislative aid for his work, and Aaron Collins on the rent board who i understand is available to answer any questions that may come up. And finally, id like to thank the San Francisco antidispla l antidisplacement coalition and its membership and leadership on this for all of their work to protect the most vulnerable san franciscans from displacement. Thank you. You are muted, chair peskin. Chair peskin thank you, mr. Preston. Are there any questions for mr. Collins . Supervisor safai . Seeing none, why dont we go supervisor safai chair, im going to hold my questions and comments until after Public Comment. Chair peskin understood. Okay. So why dont we go to Public Comment. Madam clerk . Clerk mr. Chair, operations is checking to see if there are any callers in queue. Operations, please let us know if there are any callers already. If you have not already done so, please press starthree to be added to the queue. You will be prompted that your hand has already been raised. For those already on hold, please continue to wait. Chair peskin sorry, arturo. Go ahead. [speaking spanish language] operati operator okay. There are 70 callers in the queue. I will start with the first caller. Clerk thank you. A city does not have Legal Authority under the governors order to restrict a landlords ability to cover rent due. This will make it nearly impossible for proposal will make it nearly impossible for small landowners to pay rent during covid19. This proposal, along with the closure of the court system, would allow tenants to live rent free from march 2020 to potentially september and beyond, and landlords would have no legal resource to recoupe unpaid rent. The board of supervisors cannot and should not prevent landlords who have been financially impacted by covid19 from enforcing our rights. Small landowners are particularly hard hit by renters who cannot pay. Even one in four who cannot pay, the owners are experiencing a hardship. Im a landowner in San Francisco. I waited patiently the last four months for rent, and i feel like i should be made whole. I feel like my role is not to provide free housing. Thats the role of San Francisco, so im looking forward to hopefully getting my complete rent back, but San Francisco feels that i should delay getting rent. Thats it. Clerk thank you. Next caller, please. Hello, caller . Hello . Clerk yes, you have two minutes to speak. Hello. Hi. I am a landlord here in San Francisco, and i am completely opposed to 300 this legislation. It shouldnt put the all the financial burden of tenants who are unable to pay on the backs of Small Business owners in San Francisco, and thats all i have to say. Thank you. Clerk thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Hi. I only oppose this ordinance. Please know that just last month, the full board vote for 15 million 15 million funding care. Can you direct 5 million every month to San Francisco renters . Can you do that . You can do that, right . Do that now. Tomorrow, 5 million for San Francisco renters to help people in this audience. Thats all i want to say. Clerk thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Im mina young. Im a long time San Francisco owner, and a voter, and business please say no to this legislation. Its unconstitutional, so any workers who can get paychecks, youre not going to tell them that because of the covid19, they should not expect to get paychecks, they should just go through the Small Claims Court to get it. And you, as supervisors, you should not be getting paid, either, you should expect to only go through Small Claims Court to get your money, so thats why youre saying. The homeowners are already providing essential service during this critical time. Covid19 knows no colors. It impacts everyone, no matter whether you have house or not, so everybodys impacted. You should not expect one party to provide free service to another and singlehandedly burn the difficulties, so please say no to this legislation. Thanks. Clerk thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Hi. Can you hear me . Chair peskin yes. Clerk yes. You have two minutes to speak. Yes. Okay. Great. My name is abe fields. I i im a resident of district 5. Im calling in support of this legislation. I distribute rental assistance for a living. Before this pandemic hit, our city was already in a housing crisis, and i spoke to a never ending stream of families who were at a high risk of defaulting on their rent families because its so freaking high. Many families work over 60 hours a week only to be able to afford a shared bedroom in the tenderloin. In the past through months, our office has been flooded with calls asking about covid related back rent assistance. We actually started turning people away. Some renters have such large back rent balances that our office cant help, and their cases will turn into an unlawful detainer action if this legislation does not pass. The sixmonth period the tenants are give right now given right now to payback their covid rent debt is not enough. Forcing people out of their homes because they cannot pay rent will not only put more pressure on the city and will further exacerbate the covid19 crisis. Thank you, supervisors, for hearing me, and thats all my time. Thank you. Clerk thank you. Next speaker, please. Hi. My name is tom, and im a renter in the sunset district, number 4. Before this pandemic, ive had to choose between fixing my vehicle and keeping a roof over my head. Living in San Francisco is hard enough. Please support this eviction relief. Thank you. Clerk thank you for your comments. If you have not done so, please press starthree to be entered into the queue. If youve already done so, please continue to hold. Hello, supervisors. My name is jason, and im a resident of district 1. No one who has lost their job during this time can be expected to pay tens of thousands of dollars in back rent. Its just not going to be possible. Anyone who supports a moratorium on evictions now but does not pass this bill had better be ready for a huge wave of evictions a few months from now. I would first ask you to support the bill supervisor preston just spoke about, which is intended to payback rent on behalf of your tenants. You will be made whole because of this legislation. Please, please support this bill. Thank you. Clerk thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Hello, caller . Hello, caller . My name is gabby. Can you hear me . Clerk yes, you have two minutes to speak. Thank you. My name is gabby ruiz, and i am the policy and planning manager at tndc. We are in full support of this ordinance and feel that it will protect many of our tenants who have struggled to pay rent during this time. In my work consulting with other Staff Members who consult other residents in our tndc building, the biggest concerns i hear of our clients loss of income, potential evictions, and what will happen to our clients housing if they cannot pay rent once this pandemic is over. There is a fear that they will become homeless if rent protections are not put in place. I also want to thank you, supervisor preston, for introducing those amendments because i feel it is important to acknowledge the concerns of nonprofit Housing Providers as we enter the potential for significant loss of income due to the nonpayment of rents in the coming months and years, and as protections are given to the tenants, we hope that consideration is given to Housing Providers that would incur a reasonable repayment schedule or create some type of public funding process that allows for landlords to recoup lost rent. It is important for our properties to have sufficient rent to operate our properties at a high level of property, and although well be sharing in the collective struggle of our tenants, we hope well be able to create a way that all parties have equitable protections moving forward. Again, thank you so much for introducing this ordinance. We are in full support of this legislation and its intent, and we will work with the public to identify a reliable source of rent repayment. Thank you so much. Clerk thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Hello . Caller . Next speaker, please. Hello. Can you hear me . Clerk yes. You have okay. Wonderful. Hi. Im a musician in San Francisco and a freelance facilitator. I receive a received multiple hiring freezes and gigs cancelled and have had zero income since the pandemic hit. All of the rent that im not able to pay, i dont see clearly how im supposed to come up with that. Even as employment starts to reappear, it would only cover basic expenses. This is a huge unnecessary burden, and its awful to think that people are going to be punished for not paying rent when they simply live in San Francisco. When im told i cannot go to work, i should not have to pay my rent because i dont have any money to do that, so i want to support this measure and i appreciate dean preston for introducing this eviction legislation because theres many, many of us. Thank you. Clerk thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Hi. My name is katie sass. Im a district 8 resident and a tenant rights attorney in the city. I strongly urge the board of supervisors to pass this legislation because no one should become homeless from unemployment during the pandemic. This will become a concrete reality for thousands of san franciscans if legislation is not enacted. I know this because every day i see the overwhelming impact that eviction has on our community. Even if folks are able to resume the jobs that they had before the pandemic, many will simply not have the financial means to catch up on back rent within