2/18: Come out for Leno's Ellis Act Press Conf. this Friday, S.F.

Press conference this Friday, February 18, 1 PM at 424 Francisco (at
Powell)

Ellis Act evictions became common during the dot-com madness. In an
Ellis eviction, the landlord states that he is taking the property off
the rental market permanently; in many cases it proved to be a bluff,
and after evicting the tenants, the landlord would then withdraw the
Ellis petition and illegally rent the place out again at much higher
rent. The majority of Ellis evictions were done by speculators, not
small property-owners genuinely seeking to do something different with
the property: Most Ellis evictions are done by landlords who have
owned their property for 6 months or less, and almost two-thirds are
done by landlords who have owned their property for a year or less--and
23% are done by landlords who have owned the property less than a
month!

Assembly Member Mark Leno has introduced legislation which will require
that landlords own a property for 5 or more years before they can do an
Ellis. This will shut out the speculators. Such a law would have
prevented 78% of the Ellis evictions in 2003 and 2004.

Come join him and tenants at a press conference on this Friday,
February 18, 1 PM at 424 Francisco (at Powell).
If you are a tenant who suffered an unfair Ellis eviction and can come
to the press conference, please contact
ted [at] sftu.org.