San Francisco renters fall victim to foreclosures

The United States is still working through its credit crisis, but a new study by TransUnion finds that people may just be shifting their debts. Typically, Americans have prioritized making their mortgage payments, often at the expense of falling behind on their credit card payments. But TransUnion’s study shows that over the past two years, the reverse has been happening: on-time mortgage payments have been slipping, especially in California. The number of Californians current on their credit cards but late on their mortgages has nearly doubled since 2007 and now stands at over 10%. That could lead to more foreclosures. Furthermore, when adjustable rate mortgages reset, industry experts expect a jump in foreclosures in San Francisco. That will affect many property owners, of course, but as KALW’s Monica Jensen reports, it will also affect renters living in foreclosed buildings.

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MONICA JENSEN: Ted Gullicksen from the San Francisco Tenants Union says the number of renters being evicted due to foreclosures has been rising.

GULLICKSEN: Here at the tenants union, we're probably seeing 3 or 4 people a day. And many of those are in post-1979 buildings. All of these South of Market condominiums for example. And that means when the bank takes the property via foreclosure, they simply tell the tenants to get out. They don't have to give them a reason; they don't have to do anything but just tell the tenants to get out.

Two months ago, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance that would have protected tenants from evictions in housing built since 1979. Mayor Gavin Newsom vetoed the ordinance and said the legislation should not provide blanket coverage of all those properties. 

SAN FRANCISCO MAYOR GAVIN NEWSOM:   “But the intention behind it is right, as it relates to the possibility that we’re going to see bigger problems in the future--even more problems than we’ve seen in the past as it relates to foreclosures.”

This week, the Board of Supervisors failed to overrule Mayor Newsom’s veto—meaning San Francisco renters can still be evicted from any foreclosed properties built in the last 30 years.

In San Francisco, I’m Monica Jensen, for Crosscurrents.