Supervisors hold wide-ranging hearing on evictions from city-funded supportive housing; continue item for follow-up

The Land Use and Transportation Committee conducted a lengthy oversight hearing March 20 into evictions from the city’s portfolio of permanent supportive housing (PSH).

Supervisor Dean Preston, who requested the hearing, said his office was approached by residents and tenant leaders with concerns about evictions in PSH and asked the city to examine causes and potential policy responses. Deputy Director Emily Cohen of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) said HSH oversees roughly 157 PSH buildings and serves more than 10,000 households annually, and she presented retention and eviction data: HSH reported a 97% stability rate in year one and 87% after two years for PSH placements; the department reported an eviction rate of about 1.29% in the set of sites examined and noted 142 evictions in the most recent year in the presentation slide deck. Cohen described HSH’s eviction-avoidance steps (informal engagement, written notices, post-notice problem-solving, a 10-day notice step before legal filing, and legal aid referrals) and listed investments intended to improve retention, including wage increases for case managers and a permanent housing placement team (20 FTEs).

Dara Pappo of the Department of Public Health described FACS (permanent housing advanced clinical services), a mobile clinical team funded by Prop C that has expanded to serve dozens of PSH sites and provides nursing, behavioral health consultation and overdose prevention services. Supportive-housing providers, including Lauren Hall of DISH and Termecia Garner, said eviction is a last resort for providers but that tools to address nonpayment, behavioral issues, staffing turnover and a lack of higher-level care options often push providers toward eviction. Providers urged easier access to rental-assistance programs and more investment in service staffing and wages.

Tenants and advocates delivered extensive public comment describing management practices they called punitive, inconsistent and in some cases retaliatory; several speakers recommended changes including expanded definitions of eviction (count notices and UD filings), stronger reporting on unlawful detainers and notices, limits on eviction-lawyer practices, easier transfer procedures within the PSH system, and a short-term placement option to avoid shelter or street homelessness when an eviction is imminent.

Supervisors asked for better data (households receiving written notices, UD filings, provider-level patterns and attorneys used), and for clarity on whether the city could use its unspent rent-relief funds to prevent nonpayment evictions. HSH agreed it reports notices and UD filings and is revamping data collection to give more timely provider-level reports. The committee voted to continue the item to the call of the chair for further analysis and follow-up.

Next steps: Departments will return with more granular provider-level data, a tally of unpaid rent across PSH providers (to evaluate whether city rent-relief funds could eliminate nonpayment evictions), and proposed operational changes to transfers and handoffs.