Don't put up with this crap.

Part of the reason that OMI came about is because the landlord lobby has such an efficient
and finely calibrated public relations machine. In San Francisco, the Chamber of Commerce
tells the Housing Committee at the Board of Supervisors just what they'd like.

If tenants want to change the rules (i.e. the SF Administrative Code) they are going to
have to make a huge fuss about this legislation. If Sue Bierman's OMI amendment had
gone through, none of you would be facing this issue.

Here's what you can do about
owner move-in eviction.

Go to the Tenants Union at 558 Capp Street in San Francisco.
Call 415-282-6622 for the daily drop-in consultation schedule.
Get on the OMI database. That way you can be part of the check-back system.
The Tenants Union has completed a survey on landlords who did OMI's and
then re-rented the unit before one year was up. In most cases on file,
landlords who broke the law have gotten away with it. We tenants must go after
these landlords and make the charges stick. Unfortunately, nobody else will.

Call Richard at the Eviction Defense Network at 415-431-0931.
He is an housing activist who can help you fight OMI eviction.

Go to the Rent Board and lodge a formal complaint
Website www.ci.sf.ca.us/rentbd
Email Rent_Board@ci.sf.ca.us

The Rent Board compiles statistics on evictions. As of this writing (October 1997), about 3 TENANTS PER DAY
are being evicted from their homes in San Francisco under the false pretense that
"a landlord's family member is moving in". If you believe this is what's happening to you,
file a report of alleged wrongful eviction. If you don't file a report, your case will not
be documented. FILE A REPORT.

25 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 320, San Francisco, CA 94102-6033
Office Hours: 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Friday
24-Hour Information Line 415-252-4600
Phone Counseling Number 415-252-4602
Fax 415-252-4699
Administrative Offices Only 415-252-4601
Counseling Office visits during regular weekday office hours.
Phone Counseling 9 a.m.-noon, 1-4 p.m.

Bilingual staff members are available and there is limited information
on the 24 hour information line in Chinese and Spanish.

California Tenant's Rights
Website tenant.net/Other_Areas/Calif

Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco
942 Market Street #303, San Francisco, CA 94102
Voice 415-398-0527
Fax 415-398-0529

The HRCSF Seeks to preserve, improve, and expand housing opportunitites in San Francisco
and to ensure the fundamental right to safe, secure, decent, and affordable housing.
Educates tenants and the public, does legislation advocacy, and participates in political actions.
Publishes the quarterly newsletter The Renters' Voice, included with $20 membership.

NOLO Press
Website www.nolo.com/ChunkRE/RE.index.html
Information pertaining to Renting, Buying and Neighbors.
Look for articles and self-help law books written by Janet Portman,
such as "Every Tenant's Legal Guide".

Questions to Ask When Renting
Webpage home.oit.umass.edu/~cshrc/housing/questions.html
Description Guide developed for college students asks all the right questions.


Editor's Note: The following section was updated on March 28 2000, since there's a few changing faces down at The Shiny New Gold City Hall.

Pay a visit to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
You elected them. Tell them what's bothering you about being evicted for no good reason.

Email Tom Ammiano, President, SF Board of Supervisors.
tom_ammiano@ci.sf.ca.us
Congratulate him on working for tenants, unlike most of the Board of Supervisors.
Tell him he'll have your vote and thanks forever.

Email Sue Bierman, SF Board of Supervisors.
sue_bierman@ci.sf.ca.us
Tell her that you appreciate the fact she authored the ordinance that would have saved you from
being homeless if the rest of the Board had voted for it.

Email Alicia Becerril, SF Board of Supervisors.
alicia_becerril@ci.sf.ca.us
Tell her that you appreciate the fact she is a renter and rides Muni.

Email Mabel Teng, SF Board of Supervisors.
mabel_teng@ci.sf.ca.us
Call her office. Tell her that you don't like OMI and why. Tell her you will not be voting
for her again if she doesn't do something to change it. Tell her that you won't be fobbed
off like tenants were in the last elections. She has to do something and stand by her actions.
Promises and reneging on them don't count. Tell her that you will personally be polling
next election and you will inform every one of her slate on tenants rights. We (tenants)
make up 70% of the voters and she won't get back in again. Tell her you will be following
Housing Issues closely, in particular the actions of the Housing Committee. Advise her
that you will be attending these meetings and will be speaking on OMI and illegal evictions
regularly so she better get used to it.

Email Gavin Newson, SF Board of Supervisors.
gavin_newsom@ci.sf.ca.us
He serves on the Health, Family and Environment and Housing and Neighborhood
Services Committees. Tell him you want him to do something about OMI.

Email Michael Yaki, SF Board of Supervisors.
michael_yaki@ci.sf.ca.us
Tell him that you don't appreciate him reneging on his commitment to tenants. Tell him that
the landlord lobbyists and funders won't save him in the next election and that he'll have to
spend far more $$ next time.

Email Leyland Yee, SF Board of Supervisors.
Leland_Yee@ci.sf.ca.us
Tell him you want him to inform the Mayor's housing group that OMI is not okay by you.
Ask him who they are, and if he still doesn't know who they are, ask him why that is.

Email Da Mayor.
damayor@ci.sf.ca.us
Ask him what happened to the Tenants Rights Platform he was elected on.


Email Randy Shaw at the Tenderloin Housing Clinic. thc@igc.org
Thank him for his campaign to end OMI's. Ask him what you can do to stop this epidemic.

Call the following reporters and insist that they write stories on OMI now.
Say "Not next year, not next month - NOW!"
Nina Siegal (Bay Guardian)
Johnnie Brannon (The Independent)
Rachel Gordon - (The San Francisco Examiner)
Marie Hanson (Bay View)
Kris Welch (KPFA Berkeley)
Wendell Harper (KPFA Berkeley)
George Cothran (SF Weekly)
Lisa Davis (SF Weekly)
Call the City Desk of KCBS, KRON, KTVU, KPIX
and whoever else you can think of.

Call San Francisco Liberation Radio
Ask them to have a regular show on housing issues in San Francisco. Tell them you'll host it.

Call the Editors of the Chronicle and Examiner
Tell them exactly what you think about their embargo on housing stories. Insist that they have to
make OMI a feature story in their papers. Tell them they better write about the housing issue in
a real way, rather than pathologising the homeless. Call the City Editors of the Examiner and
Chronicle and tell them the same thing. Where are the stories and why the embargo?

Call John Mecklin at SF Weekly
Leave him a voice mail message thanking him for his coverage on housing issues. Since he's
the only Editor in the City who can bear to make it a Page One issue, he needs it.

Call Tim Redmond at the Bay Guardian
Tell him one column on page six and a mention in his column isn't enough. You want
feature coverage on the housing crisis in the Bay area. Tell Daniel Zoll (the new City Editor
at the Guardian) the same thing.

Haunt the Rent Board hearings
The public is welcome to attend. Make the Commissioners stay there until midnight hearing tenant complaints.
The Rent Board Commission meets the first Tuesday of the month at 6:00 pm at 25 Van Ness, Suite 70
on the lower level. The Commission may also meet on subsequent Tuesdays as the workload demands.
Check this space regularly for other scheduled meetings. Attend the next hearing on Tuesday October 28th.
Tell them what you think of a landlord's ability to change a material contract whenever he wants
- and moreover what it has cost you to fight an OMI.

Attend the Board of Supervisor meetings on Monday afternoons on the 4th floor of City Hall
Attend the Housing Committee meetings mid week. Get the agendas for both off of the www
and tell them (all the supervisors) and Teng, Newsom and Medina from the Housing Committee
just what you think of what's on the agenda. Practice making your 3 minute speeches for
each meeting. Attend Planning Commission meetings and Board of Permit Appeals Meetings too.
There tenants can speak up about OMI evictions when landlords put in for building permits.

Call Michael Krasny's office at Forum (KQED)
Tell them you want housing to be an issue and soon. What about all these evictions
- how many are there when figures have tripled in the last year. They doubled the year before.
Tell them you want to hear the facts not fiction. Propose the guests - Randy Shaw (Tenderloin
Housing Clinic) James Tracey (Eviction Defense Network) and Marie Ciepela (Housing Rights
Committee) and Ted Gullickson from the Tenants Union plus a whole group of tenants who've
been evicted.

Write the Governor
Tell him that you don't appreciate his total inaction on tenants rights. Ask him
what happened to the renters credit on the State Taxes. When is it coming back?



EVICT DA MAYOR!
Form a Tenants Rights Demonstration!
Rally at City Hall - 401 Van Ness Avenue

Attend the Supervisors Hearings
at City Hall - 401 Van Ness Avenue
Housing and Neighborhood Services Committee
Speak out for an EFFECTIVE moratorium on OMI evictions for Seniors,
the disabled, and people with terminal illness.



Read about what many other people are experiencing. Post your letter on this website
- email to STEAM@barnardgraphics.com - and it will be forwarded along to the media,
the press and the politicians. You have a voice, be heard!





"I'm going to be the sledgehammer
this can be my testimony
I'm your sledgehammer
let there be no doubt about it"
Peter Gabriel


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