Tenants Together and the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project have just released a comprehensive report on Ellis Act evictions. The report goes into great detail in how speculators are abusing the law by entering the rental business and then immediately going out of the rental business by evicting all tenants. These tactics are disproportionately targeted towards senior and disabled tenants, who have protection from other methods of eviction, but not from Ellis Act evictions.
Here are the report’s key findings:
- The Ellis Act and its legislative history reveal that the purpose of the Act was to allow landlords, not speculators, to exit the rental housing business.
- 3,610 units have been removed from the rental market in San Francisco under the Ellis Act (1997-2013).
- At least 10,000 San Francisco tenants have been displaced through the Ellis Act.
- 51% of the Ellis Act evictions were commenced by owners within the first year of their ownership of the property. The majority of those were during the first six months of ownership.
- 78% of Ellis Act evictions are commenced by owners within their first five years of ownership of the property.
- 30% of units are Ellised by known serial evictors, meaning they have used the Ellis Act to evict tenants in other properties. Many of these investors have entered, exited, re-entered, and re-exited the rental business, evicting tenants from multiple buildings.
You can download the report here.