There are now so many evictions in San Francisco, and so many vocal organizations helping people fight being unreasonably kicked out of their homes, that the pressure is on the mayor to do something about it. The Anti-Eviction Mapping Project (AMP) just released its newest map of no-fault evictions, and it's yet another blatant visual of the huge numbers of people losing their apartments. (The last one went through 8/29/13 and this update takes us through 10/14/13). The non-profit collective, which is housed within the San Francisco Tenants Union, is working to create awareness about this problem, and their approach is a creative mix of collecting oral histories and crafting a time-lapse map. The numbers of no-fault evictions from 1997 to 2013 are stunning: 3693 due to Ellis Act, 6952 due to owner move-in, and 1121 due to demolition. Those numbers correspond to units that were evicted, by the way, not number of individuals in those units. (AMP is trying to get a more detailed grip on what's happening with evictions through this survey).
AMP's newest map, Ellis Acts Committed Against Senior and Disabled Tenants, offers more personal information on evictions. When you go to the map on their site, click on the yellow and red circles and the name of the landlord who owned the building and the number of people displaced.
Before you let these maps totally depress you, though, realize that the Board of Supervisors and Mayor Ed Lee are working to make Ellis Act evictions harder for landlords to execute. Tomorrow, the board will vote on whether to offer residents kicked out in Ellis Act evictions priority for subsidized housing. So our local politicians are taking action, but in the meantime, the San Francisco Tenants Union offers free counseling for those seeking answers about their rights around eviction notices.