As San Francisco’s eviction moratorium expires on Aug. 29, data suggests that landlords’ appetite for evictions may be exaggerated.
The city’s moratorium, one of the longest-lasting bans in the country, was extended for a 60-day “wind down period” in June, with local officials warning at the time that the city could fall off an “eviction cliff” without the measure.
While tenants and local politicians raise fears that tenants may be thrown out en masse, they city’s data shows a slowdown in evictions. From the start of the year through July 1, there were a total of 474 eviction notices filed in San Francisco, according to data from the city’s Rent Arbitration Board. If the pace of filings during the first half of the year holds through the second half, it would be below the full-year total of 1,299 filings from last year.
Based on a map produced by TRD using Rent Arbitration Board data, the neighborhood with the highest number of eviction filings was the Financial District with 112, followed by the Tenderloin with 73 filings and the Mission District with 49. The Financial District evictions were concentrated on the 200 Block of Fremont Street, which accounted for a total of 96 filings.
More than a quarter of filings (162) were for nuisance violations. There were also 116 eviction notices due to capital improvements. Non-payment of rent, the violation covered by the city’s ordinance, accounted for a total of 66 eviction notices.
Eviction moratoria were put in place across the country in 2020, early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of the protections have since expired. However, certain parts of California have been the longest holdouts. Berkeley, for instance, extended its moratorium until Aug. 31.
The drop in eviction filings in San Francisco is in defiance of a nationwide trend. According to Princeton University’s Eviction Lab data from June, eviction filings rose more than 50 percent in some cities. The report, which tracked around three dozen cities in 10 states, found that eviction filings rose 78.6 percent compared to 2021, when most of the country was still under a moratorium.