As Families Leave SF, Land for Affordable Housing Grows Scarce

The owner of a 38-unit apartment building at 901 Bush Street invoked the Ellis Act last week in an attempt to convert its former rental units into tenancies in common (TICs). Should it be approved, the site would represent the largest apartment building to fall victim to the Ellis Act in San Francisco history. The attempt comes on the heels of the Board of Supervisors rejecting the owner’s bid to convert the units directly to condos, a decision mandated by the owner's ignoring of the Planning Department and the city's General Plan. Now, the city faces both a significant loss of its rental housing stock and the displacement at least twenty of its long-time, low-income residents. The owners, however, face trying to sell a building full of tenancies in common (TICs) where every buyer will share liability and mortgage responsibilities with 37 strangers. Finding such buyers could prove difficult, making the decision to use the Ellis Act in this case financially questionable.

The fight over 901 Bush began six years ago, when the building suffered a major fire that displaced every tenant in the building. City law, however, guaranteed them their units back, so when new owner M-J SF Investments completed rehabilitation of the building, the former tenants prepared to move back into their homes.

The owners had a different idea. They wanted to convert the site into condominiums, arguing that the rehabilitation was extensive enough to exempt it from the laws requiring they let former tenants move back.

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