Supervisors back 60-day wind-down for COVID eviction protections; broad community support

The committee voted March 20 to recommend to the full Board an ordinance that would keep local COVID hardship eviction protections in place for 60 days after the local state of emergency ends.

Sponsor Supervisor Dean Preston said the extension would give the city time to get remaining rent-relief funds into tenants’ hands to prevent avoidable displacement. Preston told the committee San Francisco has approximately $24 million in unspent rent-relief funds that could help additional households and urged a brief wind-down to avoid a surge of preventable evictions.

Tenant advocates, legal aid organizations and housing-rights groups provided extensive public comment in favor of a 60-day transition window. Eviction Defense Collaborative representatives said the wind-down would give their programs time to counsel tenants and process assistance applications; the Anti-Displacement Coalition and Tenants’ Union also urged passage. MOHCD and other departments said a 60-day window would allow their programs to process anticipated demand and clear the current backlog.

The committee moved the ordinance as a committee report for full Board consideration and duplicated the file so staff could preserve a vehicle for any necessary future technical changes.

Next steps: The ordinance will proceed to the full Board; committees and departments will coordinate to deploy unspent rent-relief funds during the wind-down period.