How Low Will It Go?
If you think that the assessed value of your property has gone down, now is the time to appeal the assessment with the San Francisco Office of the Assessor-Recorder.
If you believe that the assessed value is currently higher than the market value of your property, and you have evidence to support your belief, Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting is encouraging you to request an informal review. From April 1 until August 28, 2009, the assessor will accept requests to review the taxable value of your property. The service is free of charge.
The process is straightforward: fill out a simple, one-page form that is available at www.sfgov.org/assessment or at the assessor’s office. When you submit the form, please provide comparable sales to help the assessor’s office determine if you are eligible for a reduction. Property owners are also encouraged to file a formal appeal with the Assessment Appeals Board between July 2 and September 15, 2009.
Federal Stimulus Goes to Public Housing
San Francisco received the first of its federal stimulus money: $17.9 million for public housing. Of that, $3 million will pay for repairing more than 200 vacant units over the next few months. About $6 million will go to Hunters View, which Mayor Gavin Newsom has promised to tear down and rebuild; $2.6 million will go toward neighborhood improvements on Potrero Hill; $1 million will pay for new fire alarms in public housing; and the rest of the money will go toward lead paint removal, weatherization and other projects.
Work has already begun in the Potrero Hill Terrace neighborhood, where crews have been traveling door to door, documenting repairs that need to be made
to vacant units, such as replacing windows and removing lead paint. The city has also already started refurbishing about 100 vacant units, but the stimulus money will allow the repairs to be made much more quickly.
Newsom hopes that the city will eventually see hundreds of millions in federal dollars. This money will go to everything from road improvements to health
and education.
Rehab Rather Than Rebuild
A San Francisco Board of Supervisors committee endorsed the creation of a city fund to rehabilitate rundown buildings of 25 units or less and convert them into housing affordable to residents earning less than the area’s median income.
The plan, sponsored by Supervisor Chris Daly, would take 10% of the fees that the city collects from private developers, which has historically been used to build new affordable housing, and shift them to improving the city’s existing stock. Affordable housing advocates say that rehabilitating housing costs about $250,000 per unit and takes about two years, while developing new units costs $500,000 and takes five years.
Also at the board, Supervisor Eric Mar says he is examining the impact of evictions on families with school-age children. Three years ago, the board passed legislation to require the San Francisco Rent Board to start reporting the number of families with school-age children evicted during the school year. The survey found that, between March 2008 and February 2009, there were 76 reported evictions of families with school-age children, 57 of which occurred during the school year. The total number of evictions in the last 12 months was 1,430. The school-age eviction figures are almost identical to the 2007-2008 numbers. Mar says he is looking into some “legislative fixes” to help families with school-age children in danger of eviction.
Hoarding Costs City Millions
Anywhere from 12,000 to 25,000 San Francisco residents struggle with hoarding and cluttering, according to a recent report from the San Francisco Task Force on Compulsive Hoarding. The task force was created in 2007, and its report includes a groundbreaking analysis of the financial cost of compulsive hoarding to service providers and landlords.
Those financial costs are larger than expected: over $1 million a year in documented costs from a sample of existing agencies and landlords, with overall costs estimated at more than $6 million per year. Costs include resources from the police and fire departments, which can become involved in the event of safety hazards, and social services providers who attempt to help residents with this condition. The social workers surveyed said that hoarding clients can be more expensive than other clients due to extra hours of case management and additional medication and legal services, with a mean cost of $3,191 per client.
Landlords also noted many costs resulting from hoarding, including pest infestations ($50-$1,499), animal control costs ($200-$1,499), foregone rent ($1,000-$3,999), eviction-related costs ($2,000-$74,999) and heavy cleaning ($75-$3,999). A small number of catastrophic events (evictions costing $50,000-$74,999 and a fire-related cost exceeding $500,000) were reported.
The report also offered guidelines on how to begin fixing the problem. Increased access to treatment, expanded social groups, long-term management service and additional training for therapists and landlords are just a few of these recommendations. These additional resources are sure to increase the costs associated with hoarding in the near term, but these would ideally decrease over the long term as more people get the help they need.
Speak Out
District 6 Supervisor Chris Daly introduced new legislation that he calls a “Renters Economic Relief Package.” The goal of this package is to help renters in San Francisco who may or may not be suffering due to the current economic climate. There are a number of proposed reforms in this package.
The first measure would suspend any rent increases that would cause tenants’ rents to exceed 33% of their incomes. This would extend the rights of tenants to claim a hardship and make rent increases more difficult for owners in San Francisco. Another measure would expand the rights of tenants to add roommates to help pay the rent. This provision would allow tenants to increase the number of occupants beyond what is stated in their lease agreement and would be based on occupancy limits in the San Francisco Housing Code. The final provision would limit the amount of “banked” rent increases that can be imposed in any one year. Currently, owners are able to enforce any amount of “banked” rent increases. The new provision would not allow an owner to raise the rent more than 8% using banked increases in any one year.
SFAA is working to ensure such measures are not put into place. The organization realizes the impact it would have on property owners in San Francisco, many of whom may also be going through difficult financial times in the current economy. To assist SFAA staff in their efforts to work with the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, please email, call and send letters to your supervisor letting them know that you are against this type of legislation. We must make it clear to the board that such provisions would push owners into worse financial situations and cause more foreclosures in San Francisco.
Who Pays for Tools & Equipment?
Many employers, including rental property owners, require employees to utilize specified tools and equipment in the normal course of their employment. In rental housing, these types of requirements often include tools for maintenance personnel and technology devices for leasing and management personnel. When such requirements are imposed by the employer or are necessary for the performance of the job function, the tools and equipment must be provided and maintained by the employer.
Under regulations adopted by the Industrial Welfare Commission, the regulatory body that governs wages, hours, and working conditions in California, the following applies: When uniforms are required to be worn by the employee as a condition of employment, such uniforms shall be provided and maintained by the employer. “Uniform” includes apparel and accessories of distinctive design or color. When tools or equipment are required or are necessary to perform a job, such tools and equipment shall be provided and maintained by the employer.
An exception to these requirements is allowed when the employee’s wages are at least two times the minimum wage. Employees may be required to provide and maintain hand tools and equipment customarily required by the trade or craft. Power tools do not fit within this exception, however. Employers may require a reasonable deposit as security for the return of the items furnished by the employer under these provisions. All items furnished by the employer shall be returned by the employee upon completion of the job or upon termination of employment.
Rental Housing Expo May 19
CAA’s 2009 Northern California Rental Housing Education Expo will be held on Tuesday, May 19, 2009 in Santa Clara, California. This annual event focuses on the issues and trends in the property management industry. It presents a unique opportunity to interact with prospects and peers and to explore the issues critical to industry survival in these tough economic times. Spend your time learning ways to protect your investment, increase sales and overcome the difficult economy.
The expo will take place at the Santa Clara Convention Center from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The cost for members is $79. For attendee registration and exhibitor information visit www.caanet.org/2009expo.