Feature
By Brian Basinger
Ayman Shehadeh was in a pickle. After steadily building his portfolio of rental properties over the past ten years, he made a multi-million dollar purchase of a well-kept, 20-unit building in San Francisco. However, the time for celebrating the realization of his personal goal came and went quickly. Within a month of purchasing the building, four tenants gave notice and another two were laid off and unable to pay their rent. A vacancy rate of nearly 20 percent, as well as the specter of evicting another 10 percent of his tenants for nonpayment, was not exactly what he had anticipated.
The independent leasing agent he employed did not get much traction in locating replacement tenants either. Even though the agent received a fee equal to one month’s rent when placing a tenant, that incentive was not enough to combat San Francisco's ever-increasing vacancy rate. Even after dropping his asking prices, Shehadeh was still unable to lease his units. In examining his cash flow, he knew something had to be done, and done soon.
Luckily the AIDS Housing
Alliance/SF approached him. This
alliance, a free housing-referral service, provides a roommate matching service
and apartment listings for people with HIV/AIDS. It also helps landlords and
tenants navigate the various rental-assistance and deposit-assistance
resources. Since the service is free, Shehadeh decided to give it a try.
Not only did the AIDS Housing Alliance/SF refer tenants to him, they also
managed the paperwork from various providers of rental assistance for those
tenants fortunate enough to receive this type of help. According to Shehadeh, “Many
building owners are hesitant about working with tenants who are receiving
help because of the paperwork burden.” He discovered that AIDS Housing
Alliance/SF had relationships with various service providers, thus facilitating
the process so that things moved along smoothly. “All I had to do was
sign paperwork,” Shehadeh
noted. “It made accepting subsidies a lot easier,” he added. “I
also have the peace of mind, knowing that I'll get my rent.”
Shehadeh found that what he liked about working with the AIDS Housing Alliance/SF was their commitment to building relationships, “both with me as a landlord and between their members who are neighbors in my buildings.” He observed that the tenants have a strong sense of community, a fact that “I think makes them better tenants. They look out for each other.”
He also realized that “it doesn't hurt that I now have paying tenants in my previously empty units.” Working with the AIDS Housing Alliance/SF has put thousands of extra dollars into his pocket. In fact, he enthusiastically claims that he is “so happy with the AIDS Housing Alliance/SF that I'm using them for all my buildings.” After all, Shehadeh says, “What is there to dislike? I have a full building with happy tenants who are paying good rents. And I get the extra bonus of feeling like I'm doing something that helps the less fortunate and also helps my business.”
The AIDS Housing Alliance/SF has identified the following four major challenges that disabled people have in finding housing in SF: affordable housing, credit and deposits, health and displacement.
Affordable Housing
Most disabled people live on an
income under $1,000 per month, which makes qualifying
for private rental housing nearly impossible. Even
though there are 13,000 people in San Francisco disabled
by HIV/AIDS, there are only about 700 HIV/AIDS-subsidized
rental vouchers available for them. The affordable
housing bond approved in 1996 did not necessarily create
housing for people with the most need—seniors,
disabled persons and those with AIDS. In San Francisco today, there
remains a significant difficulty in providing housing for people
living on a meager social security income.
Credit and
Deposits
Many people are counseled to declare bankruptcy after
they become disabled and are no longer able to work
and pay their medical bills, student loans, credit
cards and other forms of debt. People are told to do
this without a complete understanding of the repercussions
that bankruptcy could cause when applying for an apartment. Often
landlords will reject an applicant who has declared bankruptcy or
has a poor credit rating. Many successfully employed people have
ended up with bad credit and/or in bankruptcy when they suddenly
became too ill to work. On the other hand, people with mental health
issues are often in a better position to find housing, because they
have never declared bankruptcy due to their inability to hold a job
or use credit.
Deposit obligations often require a bit of creativity. Disabled people who have MediCal are actually quite limited in the amount of assets they can accumulate without risking the loss of their health care coverage. Phone, utilities and food bills can also eat up any remaining income or assets, leaving very little for deposits or moving expenses.
Health
Locating a new place to live is difficult for everyone.
However, people with health problems have an extra
hard time. Imagine pounding the pavement when not
feeling well—not a whole lot of fun for anyone, especially for those
who are really sick. Also, a potential tenant will encounter real difficulty
in presenting a compelling image to a landlord when he or she is visibly ill,
does not feel well and is not as perky as the next person.
We also need to be real here. Having questions about rooming with
or renting to someone who is ill is absolutely normal. People have
to be quite special to put themselves out there like that. The good
news is that exceptional landlords do exist. The job of the AIDS
Housing Alliance/SF is to locate these landlords and forge ways to
work with them, providing bottom-line value as well as fulfilling
more intangible values like karma and Christian charity.
Displacement
As a society, we must recognize the repercussions of
San Francisco's broken housing market. We must all—in
the strongest possible terms—advocate
for the expeditious construction of new homeownership opportunities
in order to mitigate the loss of housing experienced
by people who have been evicted or displaced due
to the Ellis Act, owner move-ins or tenancy-in-common
situations. This is of particular concern for the AIDS Housing Alliance/SF,
because many members are among the most impacted by displacement.
Landlords can help address these issues by (1) modifying requirements to accept proof of ability to pay rent on time for the past 12 to 24 months in lieu of income and credit requirements, (2) accepting co-signers and (3) working with the AIDS Housing Alliance/SF to let people with HIV/AIDS know they can feel safe when they apply for a place to live.
The
opinions expressed in this article are those of author and do
not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the SFAA or the San
Francisco Apartment Magazine. Brian Basinger is the founder and
director of AIDS Housing Alliance/SF. For more information on
how to list your units, please call 415-552-3242. wOrldware,
an interior design store located in Hayes Valley, will be donating
5 percent of all sales during the month of July to the AIDS Housing
Alliance/SF. Copyright
© 2004 by San Francisco Apartment Magazine. All Rights Reserved.