Preston Sends Mailer to Every D5 Tenant Ahead of March 31 Rent Relief Deadline

SAN FRANCISCO — After demanding for months for the Administration to act, Supervisor Preston took matters into his own hands, designing, funding, and sending a “Renter Alert” to every tenant household in District 5 – 25,000 in total – to inform them of the March 31 deadline to apply for state rent relief funds.

“The state has pledged to pay back rent for San Francisco tenants who apply by March 31st,” said Preston. “We know the only way to reach many vulnerable tenants is by mail, and it’s baffling that the City, despite our repeated requests, refused to do this citywide. So we decided to do it ourselves, with an urgent mailer to every tenant in District 5 – the stakes are just too high.”

The mailing will ensure that more people apply for rent relief, preventing evictions, resolving rent debt, and saving the city millions of dollars. Even if only one percent of recipients applied for relief, it would save 250 households (approximately 625 people) from eviction or crushing debt, with a total cost savings to the city of nearly $3 million.* If the Administration had done this mailer Citywide, the numbers would have been an estimated 10 times as high – 2,821 households with more than $32 million savings for the City.**

California officials clarified in February that all eligible applicants who apply by the March 31 deadline will have their back rent covered by state funds. Currently, all tenants with pending applications – whether or not they have received the funds – are protected from nonpayment evictions, but those protections are set to expire on March 31.

City officials are standing up a local eviction protection program, in the event that rent relief requests remain unpaid by April 1, the date when nonpayment evictions, regardless of pending application status, can resume. With less than half of state applications paid to date, the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development (MOHCD), the city agency in charge of the local program, is bracing for a significant run on local funds.

The city has approximately $62 million in local funds available for rent relief, more than $42 million of which came from Prop I, a ballot measure passed by Supervisor Preston in 2020. “We fought hard to deliver local rent relief funds, but we know that the scale of the need is massive,” said Preston, who commissioned a Budget and Legislative Analyst report projecting up to $355 million in COVID back rent for San Francisco tenants.

Since September 2021, Supervisor Preston’s office has suggested sending a citywide mailer to alert tenants of the statewide program. After not getting a commitment, Preston’s office followed up with a written demand on February 24 to MOHCD leadership, with an estimated cost of $250,000 for a citywide piece. There was no response until March 11, when MOHCD staff informed Preston that it would be too late to send mail before the March 31 deadline.

“I appreciate MOHCD’s collaboration with community groups to get the word out about rent relief, and they are working hard to do that through many channels, but it’s inexplicable and inexcusable that despite our repeated demands for months, MOHCD has not included a mailing program as this deadline approaches,” said Preston. “As we have explained again and again, many vulnerable tenants will be reached by mail and the City will save millions by making sure people don’t miss this deadline.”

Refusing to accept the inaction, Preston’s office privately fundraised to quickly get a renter alert designed and mailed in his district. The 25,000 pieces were sent Friday and are expected to arrive in mailboxes this week, approximately a week before the state deadline. At the same time, Preston is emailing over 15,000 recipients with the information today.

It isn’t the first time Preston’s office has taken matters into their own hands when facing Departmental inaction. In the early days of the pandemic, city officials refused to temporarily house homeless populations in vacant hotel rooms, despite demands from Supervisors. Preston’s office set up a GoFundMe campaign and within a matter of days raised more than $80,000 to cover the costs of moving a congregate family shelter in D5 to private rooms at the Oasis Hotel. Eventually, the city got the message and created what is now the Shelter in Place hotel program, and the Oasis Hotel is now a permanent non-congregate family shelter.

“Everyone in my office has an organizing background, and when it comes to fighting for the most vulnerable in our city, we will continue to get things done, either in collaboration with Departments or going around them when necessary,” Preston said.

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* According to the California COVID-19 Rent Relief Program Dashboard (as of March 20, 2022), the average amount of relief per household is $11,476 for San Francisco applicants. If 250 additional households applied for the average amount due to the mailer, the total savings would be $2 ,869,000.

** According to the most recent voter file, there are 282,126 households citywide. If 1% of recipients applied (2,821), and they applied for an average $11,476 in aid, the total cost savings would be $32,376,779.