Newsom’s Eviction Protection Veto Will Undermine his Political Credibility

As Ellis Act evictions strike fear into vulnerable residents throughout San Francisco, Mayor Gavin Newsom has responded by vetoing two pieces of legislation designed to alleviate the problem. Now it appears that the Mayor is set to veto the most important legislation of all, Supervisor Aaron Peskin’s measure to deny condo conversions where senior and disabled tenants have been evicted without fault.

The Board of Supervisors will pass the Peskin legislation today, and after a second reading next week the measure goes to the Mayor. Optimism that Newsom would sign the measure has faded, and the Mayor is now expected to issue his third veto of tenant protection legislation this year.

Not since Frank Jordan has a San Francisco Mayor been so unconcerned with tenant displacement, and the human cost of 89- year old tenants being forced out of their longtime homes. And Jordan presided during a period of few speculator evictions due to a stagnant real estate market; the former police chief never confronted the type of eviction crisis now occurring on Gavin Newsom’s watch.

Former Mayor Willie Brown remained cozy with real estate interests throughout this mayoralty, but this did not stop him from actively supporting and signing landmark tenant protection measures during his first term. Brown saw tenants suffering from a growing epidemic of senior evictions and acted boldly to reduce this threat.

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