San Francisco Chinatown Tenants Form Union as Evictions Loom

“I hope that the landlord of this building will hear our voice and stop this kind of harassment and eviction. Any planned evictions need to be stopped,” said Kin Wong, who has lived in the 16-unit building with his wife for more than 35 years.

Since the building was sold last summer, six residents have received eviction notices following apartment inspections and nuisance complaints about trash and clutter, according to Shelby Nacino, an attorney with the Asian Law Caucus who is representing tenants.

In one complaint obtained by KQED, a resident was dinged for having installed a washing machine “without permission,” but also cited for “unsanitary conditions” in the unit.

Many of the residents are monolingual Chinese speakers and have struggled to get clear information about what is happening to them or their neighbors, Nacino said.

“It’s not normal to have six nuisance evictions in one building that are all very similar. The notices have slightly different language, but the gist of all six of them is that these people are so messy and so poor at maintaining their units that they’re causing a health and safety concern,” Nacino said. “What we’re really concerned about is the lack of communication. And so that’s why we’re here today.”

Kin Ying Mac’s family is among them. She and her mother moved into the building in 2001 from Hong Kong, and she later married and raised her children in a separate unit in the building to remain close to care for her elderly mother.

“These inspections feel harassing, and all the while, I have not received any communications on what more I can do,” Mac said, adding that the previous owner and building manager never raised similar complaints about how they maintain their homes. “My kids are teens now. They have grown up in this building.”

Others, like Wong, have been hit with massive rent hikes that they say they can’t afford. For years under the previous building ownership, Wong’s wife worked as a resident manager at the rent-controlled property.

That allowed them to maintain an exceptionally low rent around $210, Wong said. But after the building recently sold, the new owners began charging them $2,600 for the same one-bedroom where the couple raised their three children, he said.

Emily Wong, Kin Wong’s daughter, called the situation in her parents’ building a “shame.”

“It speaks to how difficult housing is in San Francisco,” she said. “My parents have said the only reason they have been able to save and put me and my siblings through college is because the building is rent-controlled and not eating up half of their income, especially as people who didn’t work in tech or medicine, but doing blue-collar labor.”

The owners of the building, operating under a private LLC called Nabob Hill, said that they had documentation of every allegation of nuisance, which include “clutter and hoarding.” The owners also alleged that some tenants reside in other homes, which the tenants have denied.

“The owners are confident that these matters will be resolved properly and lawfully, based upon their faith in the judicial process. At every stage, the owners have endeavored to act in full compliance with the law and have extended numerous courtesy notices to the tenants in an effort to address these issues amicably before pursuing further action,” Daniel Bornstein, who is legally representing Nabob Hill, LLC, said in an email on behalf of the owners. “The owners are pursuing these matters with the expectation that a resolution with the tenants will be fair, just, and equitable, considering the allegations of each particular matter.”

The average price for a two-bedroom apartment in San Francisco is currently around $5,800, according to Zillow, a 35% increase from one year ago.

An online listing for the property, now marked as closed, said that current rents in the building are significantly below-market, “with an estimated 224% rental upside achievable through unit turnover.”

Many of the longtime residents in the building have been able to stay in San Francisco on fixed incomes due to the city’s rent-control policies.

It’s a charming older building along the cable car route, and was even pictured in a scene in The Princess Diaries where Anne Hathaway as Mia Thermopolis is pushing her scooter up a hill.

As the real estate market around the current tech boom soars, tenants like Wong are increasingly feeling the pressure from building owners who want to cash in on the moment, said Molly Goldberg, director of San Francisco’s Anti-Displacement Coalition.

“What we’re seeing is the anticipation of an ability to get higher rents from these buildings. We’re seeing speculators go after buildings that have large numbers of long-term rent control tenants,” Goldberg said. “Our rights don’t change when a building is for sale.”

Laura Chiera, executive director of Legal Assistance to the Elderly, said that eviction notices have increased by roughly 25% in the last year and caseloads at her organization are spilling over. Statewide, seniors represent the fastest-growing demographic of people experiencing homelessness.

“We are turning seniors away because we do not have the capacity to take all of the evictions that seniors in San Francisco are facing,” she said.

San Francisco has stronger tenant protections and rent control policies than many other cities, but it’s often up to residents themselves to understand and assert those rights.

Tenants told KQED they hope the union will allow them to share information and resources as they navigate their legal cases.

“I am part of the Tenants Association because we feel that the landlord is trying to take us out one by one,” Mac said. “My neighbors’ support has given me strength.”