San Francisco — with its tech boom and housing crunch — is infamous for Ellis Act evictions that force tenants out of a building and allow the landlord to “go out of business.”
In practice, that means that many tenants are evicted from homes in up-and-coming neighborhoods. Landlords realize that they might make more profit with condominiums or other use changes, including teardown and redevelopment.
The issue has attracted nationwide attention as San Francisco’s tenants attempt to fight back. Some 2,000 people are evicted annually in the city.
But San Francisco isn’t the only offender. In fact, across the U.S., there’s a looming eviction problem, creating yet another iteration of the housing crisis that Americans have struggled with since the Recession.
Historically, evictions were quite rare, notes Matthew Desmond, who wrote an entire book about the situation. They were, in fact, so unusual that sometimes people gathered around to watch. In other instances, they became flashpoints for protest. Groups like Eviction Free San Francisco carry on that particular tradition today.