San Francisco could soon have a clearer picture on evictions involving not only private landlords, but nonprofit city-funded housing providers.
While private landlord evictions are regularly reported by the Rent Board, there is no comparable centralized database for publically funded housing providers.
That would change with today's introduction of legislation by Supervisor Mark Farrell. Farrell, who held a series of hearings this year on the challenges of homeless persons, plans to require city-funded housing providers to release their eviction data annually.
The reports would affect single room occupancy hotels, supportive housing units and some public housing. The responsibility of submitting the reports would fall to the three city departments who contract with the nonprofits providing the housing -- the Department of Public Health, Human Services Agency and the Mayor's Office of Housing.
The law is intended to address situations such as where housing is secured for formerly homeless individuals, but they are evicted and back on the streets a short time later.
The mayor's homeless czar, Bevan Dufty, explained at one of Farrell's public hearings in February the costs associated with such evictions.
"We're paying for the supportive housing, we are paying for the attorney that is evicting somebody, we are paying for the attorney that is fighting the eviction and ultimately we are paying for the services that an individual is going to need that winds up on the street," Dufty said.
The data could lead to an improved system where tenants receive more help before they end up in eviction proceedings and are better matched with housing units at the beginning, supporters said.
