San Francisco Tenants Union | Fighting For Tenants Rights Since 1970

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In Defense of Rent Control

An article by psmag.com rebuts criticism of rent control including giving the results of studies such as a 2012 study that seems to show that the removal of rent regulations did nothing to lower housing prices and ended Cambridge’s tenure as a mixed-income neighborhood.

Research and Analysis

Legislative and Policy Advocacy

Grassroots Organizing & Direct Action

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Building Tenant Power

Since 1971, the San Francisco Tenants Union has been fighting for the rights of tenants and for the preservation of affordable housing in San Francisco. The Tenants Union is supported by membership and counseling donations and this enables our advocacy to be uncompromising and not influenced by pressures from government or other funders. We are a 501(c)(4) since we campaign for political candidates. We seek to build a base of tenants throughout the city to establish a political power to create change.

Join the Tenants Union today to help support on going efforts to protect and expand affordable housing in the city. Your membership helps keep the clinic going and drives our advocacy.

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Anti-Eviction Mapping Project

The Anti-Eviction Mapping Project is a data-visualization, data analysis, and digital storytelling collective documenting the dispossession of San Francisco Bay Area residents in the wake of the Tech Boom 2.0. We seek to create tools that contribute to collective resistance, and that can be used by diverse communities in movement building.

Utilizing maps and digital storytelling, we strive to make the often obscured mechanisms of material, cultural, and affective displacement palpable. We see the eviction epidemic as endemic to a political economy built to privilege corporate interests of real estate and tech, and seek to contribute to a living archive that deconstructs corporate collusion.

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Drop-in Tenants’ Rights Counseling Clinic

The Tenants Union operates a drop-in counseling clinic for members and non-members. Since the Tenants Union is a membership supported organization, we ask that new tenants become members of the Tenants Union, which provides a copy of our Tenants Rights Handbook and access to phone counseling, or we ask that you make a donation when you come in (no one is turned away for lack of funds).

Hours for the clinic include daytime, evening and weekend hours. Since the actual hours can vary each week, tenants should check our drop in schedule or call 415-282-6622 for the schedule. Counselors are trained to answer virtually any question regarding your rights as a tenant or sub-tenant. Please bring in all your paperwork (notices, letters, rental agreement, etc.).

Please note:

If you are a master tenant seeking help in evicting a sub-tenant, we can not provide you with counseling. We suggest you contact the Rent Board.
If you have been served with a “Summons & Complaint For Unlawful Detainer,” we will not be able to help. Bring it and all your paperwork to the Eviction Defense Collaborative, 995 Market St., Suite 1200 (at 6th Street).

Click here for Drop-In Clinic Hours

Tenants Rights Handbook

The San Francisco Tenants Union publishes an over-320 page handbook yearly. The 16th Edition of the Tenants Rights Handbook is available to members only. The handbook contains comprehensive information on the law, strategies, and resources for tenant rights in San Francisco.

We see the Tenants Rights Handbook a part of a larger organizing strategy to build political power by empowering tenants to learn and understand their rights. Being able to articulate your rights to landlords and politicians helps to assert tenant power in San Francisco.

We encourage you to become a member of the San Francisco Tenants Union and offer the handbook as a tool for tenant self-empowerment and self-determination.

Become a Member Now!

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News

Airbnb Legislation Needs Enforcement

04/28/2015 By SFTU

Tell your San Francisco Supervisor that the Airbnb legislation needs enforcement. Also let your State Assemblyman know you oppose proposed legislation to let Airbnb off the hook for taxes by signing a petition. Short-term rentals are very risky for the tenant host and reduces the housing stock. Also, Airbnb had been operating illegally by not […]

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News

Why We Can’t All Just Get Along

04/28/2015 By SFTU

San Francisco is ground zero for the struggle for economic inequality. Mayor Lee offered tax breaks to the tech industry before building enough affordable housing and now is scrambling too late to solve the housing crisis. Building enough housing to solve the crisis would require as many more units as has been increased since 1920 […]

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News

Buyouts of Tenants Are Regulated

04/28/2015 By SFTU

The San Francisco Supervisors in a 7/4 vote (Breed, Farrell, Tang, Wiener opposing) approved groundbreaking legislation from Supervisor David Campos which will stop the speculators from using buyouts to get around prohibitions on condo conversions and other tenant protections. Mayor Lee declined to veto the legislation. •Requires buyouts to be filed and registered with the San […]

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News

Position Annoucement: SF Tenants Union Executive Director

03/24/2015 By Andrew Szeto

Job Announcement: Executive Director JOB ANNOUNCEMENT Posted March 5, 2015 Executive Director (Full-Time) ORGANIZATIONAL DESCRIPTION The San Francisco Tenants Union (SFTU) is a membership- and donation-supported, volunteer-based tenants rights advocacy collective. We help tenants deal with landlord problems; advocate for decent, safe, affordable rental housing; and work for stronger laws protecting tenants with a focus […]

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