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October 3, 2014

President David Chiu and San Francisco Board of Supervisors
City Hall
San Francisco, CA 94102

RE: Proposed legislation to legalize short-term residential rentals to tourists


Dear President Chiu and Board of Supervisors:
We represent a wide range of stakeholders, including housing advocates, tenant advocates, and
neighborhood organizations, property owners and labor unions and other community members
concerned about the issues raised by Supervisor Chius short term rentals legislation. As we expressed in
our previous September 15
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letter, we continue to be very concerned that you are pressing forward
with this proposal while fundamental flaws are still unresolved.
While we agree that this is a critically important public policy issue to address, we also agree that it is
equally important to get the policy solutions right -- we do not support the legislation in its current form.
The very profitable industry of short-term rentals presents the very real risk of continuing to erode the
Citys housing stock for permanent residents and continuing to drive up housing prices.
We have three core recommendations:
1. Limit to 90 days hosted or unhosted on all Short Term Rentals. If this is not done, the current
proposal will allow year round tourist rentals in every residential unit in the City which will drive
up housing prices, create further economic incentive to increase evictions, further deplete
housing stock for residents, and deteriorate the quality of life in our residential neighborhoods.

2. Restrict from use as Short Term Rentals all housing developed, acquired or rehabilitated with
funding assistance from the City and County of San Francisco that restricts occupancy to low,
moderate and middle income households.

3. Expand enforcement activities to include an expedited private right of action without having to
wait until the conclusion of indeterminately long administrative enforcement proceedings to
have a right to file in suit in civil court. In the absence of this third party enforceability, at its
most basic level the proposed system lacks enforceability (as the Planning Department staff
itself has emphasized) to prevent abuses of the rules.

We are unanimous in our position that the process being pursued by Supervisor Chiu is rushed. The
City will live with the intended (and unintended) consequences of this legislation for many, many years.
We implore you to amend the legislation with the recommendations articulated above, and as necessary
postpone the Board hearing on this measure. This is one of the most important housing policy issues
the City has faced in a decade, and the solution by the Board of Supervisors must be done right and
not hurried.
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Sincerely,

Dennis Antenore Gayle Cahill
Former Planning Commissioner Attorney/SOMA Condo Owner

Dale A. Carlson Mike Casey
San Franciscans for Neighborhoods, UNITE HERE Local 2
Affordable Housing and Jobs

Christina Dang Peter Cohen and Fernando Mart
Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Council of Community Housing
Asian Law Caucus

John Elberling Douglas J. Engmann
Tenants & Owners Development Corp Former Planning Commission President

Gen Fujioka David Gruber
Chinatown Community Development Center Coalition for Better Housing

Ted Gullicksen Sue C. Hestor
San Francisco Tenants Union Attorney

Janan New and Charley Goss Aaron Peskin
San Francisco Apartment Association Former Board of Supervisors President

Bob Planthold Roger Ritter
Senior & Disability Action West of Twin Peaks Central Council

Sara Shortt Calvin Welch
Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco San Francisco Information Clearinghouse

George Wooding Randy Shaw
Neighborhood Leader Tenderloin Housing Clinic

Colleen Rivecca
Haight-Ashbury Neighborhood Council

cc: The Honorable John Avalos
The Honorable London Breed
The Honorable David Campos
The Honorable Malia Cohen
The Honorable Mark Farrell
The Honorable Jane Kim
The Honorable Eric Mar
The Honorable Katy Tang
The Honorable Scott Weiner
The Honorable Norman Yee