Friends and Neighbors,
There’s been a lot going on in recent months, and our office has continued working to protect residents and build toward recovery. Our District 5 office has continued taking the lead on preventing displacement during a global pandemic.
For residential tenants, we have been fighting to stop evictions for COVID related back rent, and we recently introduced legislation to extend “No Fault” eviction protections through March 2021. For small businesses, we are thinking outside the box for new ways to bring relief to mom and pop stores, and demanding our state leaders allow us to extend current commercial eviction protections.
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➩ Big Food and Baby Needs Giveaway!
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Our office has been working with Pastor Clayton Casson at Mt. Zion Baptist Church on Oak Street and they're hosting a Grocery and Baby-Needs Giveaway for neighbors and are seeking help from the neighborhood. We've been helping them collect items for neighbors in need.
If you're in need of food or baby supplies, or if you're able to pitch in an hour or two between 1-4pm on Saturday the 26th please let us know and cc jen.snyder@sfgov.org!
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➩ New Safe Sleeping Site to Open in the Hub in November
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After all your hard work and advocacy, we are excited to announce that the City will be moving forward with a Safe Sleep Site at 33 Gough that is anticipated to open in mid-November and will provide approximately 44 spaces. The City partners through the COVID-19 Command Center will be working to identify a non-profit provider to operate the site.
The Haight was fortunate to have the 2nd Safe Sleeping Village in the city. The new site at 33 Gough will aid in addressing homelessness in and around Hayes Valley and the Market/Van Ness area. Safe Sleep provides a public health benefit to the overall San Francisco community by providing a designated place for people experiencing homelessness to shelter in place outdoors with access to services and sanitation as part of the COVID-19 response.
Thank you for your support through this process, and please reach out with questions.
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➩ First-of-Its-Kind Victim Assistance Program for Merchants
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We are thrilled to announce a first-of-its-kind victim assistance program for small neighborhood businesses in partnership with the District Attorney’s office. The program has launched as a pilot for small businesses located in District 5 to offset the costs of smashed windows.
We heard from many small businesses that have been victims of vandalism, and it is our hope that this fund can offset some of the unexpected costs.
Under the pilot program, eligible businesses can be reimbursed up to $1,000 of the cost of replacing a storefront window with a maximum of two reimbursements per year. The program is retroactive; businesses are eligible for reimbursements for the costs of repairing broken windows for incidents that occurred on or after March 17, 2020, the start of Shelter in Place.
Eligibility requirements for businesses include:
- The qualifying incident occurred in Supervisorial District 5 in San Francisco
- The business is currently in good standing
- Businesses that have a total annual revenue under $25M
- A claim is presented within 120 days of incident or within 120 days of the start of this program.
Immigration status does not affect eligibility. Self-employed, sole-proprietors and independent contractors are also eligible for coverage under the program.
The program launched on Monday and applications are being accepted now. For impacted businesses, you can submit an application for reimbursement here. Please reach out to prestonstaff@sfgov.org if you have any questions or have feedback on the program.
More coverage:
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➩ Standing up to Small Business Evictions
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Supervisor Aaron Peskin and I authored an op-ed in the San Francisco Examiner on September 22nd, calling on the Governor to act immediately to renew his executive order allowing protections for small businesses. In addition, we teamed up to introduce Emergency Legislation to extend the commercial eviction protections as long as possible under current law.
On Wednesday evening, Governor Newsom heeded the call, issuing Executive Order N-80-20, effectively allowing localities like San Francisco to extend commercial eviction bans through at least March 31, 2021.
This is a testament to effective organizing. Our office was told we couldn’t implement further protections because of state limitations. We didn’t take no for an answer, and instead we organized with incredible community and small business advocates, demanding action from our Governor, and in partnership with Supervisor Peskin, made it happen.
Small merchants are the bedrock of our city’s neighborhood character. We can not let them be stamped out of existence for playing by the rules in a global pandemic.
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➩ Stopping No Fault Residential Evictions
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No one should lose their home during a pandemic. My office passed a law in June that made sure that anyone who lost income during COVID could not be evicted for back rent that came due during the state of emergency. On September 15, we introduced a law to stop other, so-called “No Fault” evictions, through March 31, 2021.
This law provides clarity for tenants and landlords, that except in cases where there’s a threat of violence or health and safety danger, evictions are prohibited and people must be allowed to stay in their homes during this ongoing pandemic.
I want to thank Assemblymember David Chiu for his strong support for this measure, and for clarifying his understanding — like ours — that nothing in his recent state law on nonpayment evictions stops San Francisco from adopting these protections. I also want to thank my co-sponsors Supervisors Aaron Peskin, Hillary Ronen, Matt Haney, Shamann Walton, and Rafael Mandelman for their early support.
The law is scheduled to be heard at the Land Use and Transportation Committee on Monday, October 5th. Mark your calendars and call in for public comment! If you want more information on the hearing, please contact Legislative Aide Kyle Smeallie at kyle.smeallie@sfgov.org.
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➩ Maximizing Affordable Housing at 730 Stanyan
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Our office is very excited for the proposed 100% affordable housing at 730 Stanyan in the haight, which includes ground floor services for seniors, transitional aged youth, and job training it will bring to our District. As currently proposed it would be 121 units. With two additional floors, it would be approximately 152 at 8 stories, and we’re pushing hard for that. The project is currently for TAY (Transitional Aged Youth) and family housing, but we’re also advocating with the community in support of including senior housing too. Read my Medium piece on 730 Stanyan here.
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➩ Fighting for Fair Housing at Midtown
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Last week our legislation to extend rent control protections to the long term tenants at Midtown Park Apartments was heard at committee. The committee accepted our amendments, and all three members requested to add themselves as co-sponsors. The legislation, if enacted, will reverse unfair rent hikes imposed on Midtown residents starting in 2014.
We've been working with Midtown residents for years to protect their homes from demolition and disrepair, and since we took office it's been an honor to work towards their final goal of homeownership, and tomorrow's legislation for rent control is a first and much-needed step to make sure we don't lose any more residents on the way to that goal.
The legislation returns to the Government Audit and Oversight Committee on Thursday, October 1st. For more information on the hearing, contact Kyle Smeallie at kyle.smeallie@sfgov.org.
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Please do not hesitate to reach out to our office with any ideas, questions or concerns, at prestonstaff@sfgov.org.
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