TIC Homeownership Summit
The TIC Coalition and Plan C will be hosting a TIC summit on September 20, 2007. TIC owners and homeownership advocates are urged to attend this important event where city officials will make an important announcement. City supervisors and banks will be on hand to discuss possibilities for future legislation and trends in fractional financing.
Date: September 20, 2007
Time:
6:30 to 8:30pm
Location:
St. Marys Cathedral Basement Level
1111 Gough Street at Geary.
Free Parking
Scheduled speakers: Supervisor Sean Elsbernd, Assessor Phil Ting, Sterling Bank, Bank of Marin, America California Bank, and Circle Bank.
Please spread the word to other TIC owners!
No On SB 464
May, 2007 -- The legislators are at it again -- this time at the state level. The politicians in Sacramento are mulling changes to the Ellis Act. The following provides a summary and call to action:
Significant changes to California ’s Ellis Act will be voted on in the near future in the State Senate. The Ellis Act is a state law that protects the rights of property owners by allowing them to go out of the business of providing rental property. While the SF TIC Coalition has never advocated for Ellis Act evictions, we have always viewed the Ellis Act as an important “last resort” available to property owners who can no longer deal with San Francisco’s over-regulated rental market.
State Senator Sheila Kuehl has proposed to change the Ellis Act so that it could only be used by property owners once they have owned their buildings for five years. The SF TIC Coalition opposes this change, which will take away property owners’ “safety valve”, and also reduce homeownership opportunities in San Francisco .
Copied below is a memo from the San Francisco Realtors with information about the change, and how you can contact Senator Leland Yee and other senators to oppose this change.
[ San Francisco Realtors Memo Starts Here]
SB 464 (the anti-Ellis Act bill) is expected to be voted upon this Thursday or next Thursday.
Apparently, the opposition efforts of Realtors and property owners in San Francisco and throughout the State had the bill’s author, Sheila Kuehl, on the ropes. But, from the reports we have received, Kuehl is attempting to put a tag team together, led by Senate President pro Tem, Don Perata of Oakland .
Disturbingly, Perata convened a meeting of leading Democrats in Sacramento yesterday to discuss SB 464. If he becomes an active supporter of the bill, it will make it much more difficult for other Democrats to oppose it.
Currently, virtually all of the Republicans and several key Democrats are opposed to SB 464. If these key Democrats reverse their positions on the bill because of Perata’s active support, Kuehl will have the votes she needs to pass SB 464.
Under the circumstances, it is critically important that both Senator Leland Yee of San Francisco and Senator Joe Simitian of San Mateo vote against SB 464.
Please contact the two senators to urge them to oppose SB 464. Contact information can be found at the end of this article.
SB 464 would amend the Ellis Act by limiting its application to the owner of any residential property who has owned the property for five years. Arguments that can be used for urging Senators Yee and Simitian to oppose SB 464 are the following:
• The Ellis Act provides legislative confirmation of an important and fundamental right—the right of a person to go out of a business in which he or she no longer wants to engage. Government should not force a person to continue to keep a property in rental service for any length of time.
• The reason the Ellis Act is used to create ownership housing in jurisdictions like San Francisco is because there is almost a total lack of ownership opportunities. Only 200 condominium conversions are allowed in San Francisco each year and that number is now subject to limitations that put further pressures on the ownership housing market here.
• When rental properties are taken out of rental service, they provide ownership housing opportunities to an underserved part of the population—members of the middle class interested in becoming first-time home buyers. When rental properties are converted to ownership opportunities, through the use of such instruments as the Ellis Act, the community benefits. Buildings and neighborhoods are improved; and increased property tax revenues result.
Leland Yee
State Capitol, Room 4048
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 651-4008
Fax: (916) 327-2186
Website for emails: http://dist08.casen.govoffice.com/
Joseph S. Simitian
State Capitol, Room 2080
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 651-4011
Fax: (916) 323-4529
Website for emails: http://www.senatorsimitian.com/
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