Ordinance that limits Condo Conversions gets an OK

On Tuesday, May 9, 2006, the Board of Supervisors approved legislation to reduce evictions by preventing condo conversions at apartment buildings that have been vacated of their tenants.

Prior to this vote, the ordinance had been amended to limit its reach in a compromise between Mayor Gavin Newsom’s administration, Supervisor Aaron Peskin, and advocates for tenants. The measure was called “a fair and equitable way to protect vulnerable tenants” according to Matthew Franklin, director of the mayor’s Office of Housing. The legislation, as amended, would prohibit condo conversion of buildings with two or more evictions after May 1, 2005, or a building where a senior, disabled, or catastrophically ill tenant had been displaced.

Owners of buildings where non-elderly and non-disabled tenants were evicted would be permitted to apply for condo conversion after a 10-year period—provided that the owners lived in the buildings during that time. Currently, the number of condo conversions is limited to 200 a year by city law, with those 200 chosen by an annual lottery.