566 Natoma Street Tenants Protected From Eviction

The South of Market has been home to Filipinos since the early part of the 20th century. The decimation of Manilatown on Kearny Street and the redevelopment of “Yerba Buena District,” due to gentrification and the urban development movement that began in the 1950s, had displaced members of the Filipino community. Many had moved to new homes in the South of Market. Natoma Street is an alley in the South of Market lined with apartment buildings, the majority of which are occupied by Filipino tenants. Built in 1911, 566 Natoma Street is a rent-controlled apartment building comprised of five units that are home to five Filipino families. “We’re all pretty close and family; you can see how strong the ties are in the Filipino community in this building, and us not having problems with each other,” says long-time resident, Eugene Aquiler. Aquiler’s parents immigrated to San Francisco from the Philippines in 1990 and had made Apartment D at 566 Natoma Street their home. A year later, Aquiler was born and has lived there ever since.

With the resurgence of urban gentrification in recent years, affordable housing and rent-controlled apartments are dwindling in San Francisco while tenants are in constant threat of eviction by landlords seeking higher yields and profits as dictated by the current housing market. Rents and land values in San Francisco have skyrocketed in the last few years. Currently, the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $3,690. The demand for housing has increased in a rapid rate with the influx, for the most part, of the tech industry after expanding its operations beyond the confines of Silicon Valley. Tech industry workers, among others, have been coming in droves to live close to where they work. Rent-controlled apartments have been prime targets for investors and developers who are taking advantage of the current state of the housing market to profit off of existing housing. Long-term landlords, whose primary market in the past were other investors who sought ongoing rental income, are doing their share in perpetuating this crisis by doing business with speculators and cash buyers who are purchasing rent-controlled apartments with the purpose of turning over the units for extraordinary profits by renting them at market rates or converting them to short-term rentals, tenancy in common’s, and condominiums. Tenants and long-time residents are then subjected to Ellis Acts, Owner Move-ins, and various harassment tactics in order to be evicted and removed from the buildings.

The residents of 566 Natoma Street experienced this threat of eviction. It began in the summer of 2019 after the original landlord passed away. The landlord’s daughter and son-in-law took over and became the primary contacts of the tenants. “But then there were these people who weren’t affiliated with them coming in and doing inspections.” Aquiler, who has done community work with West Bay Pilipino Multi-Service Center and SF Rec and Park, was aware of the gentrification and displacement that was going on in the city. He had a strong hunch as to what was happening to their building.

The day came when the son of the late owner dropped by for a visit along with representatives of Intero Real Estate Services, David Azimi and Tammy Nguyen. “They came with the [late] owner’s son whom I’ve never met, my dad never met, and his friends who, I guess, was helping in selling this place.” Aquiler says that, at first, it was not clear to them that the building was being sold and that the real estate representatives were doing thing such as taking photos of the building without the consent of the tenants. “They came in smiling, talking to me and my dad while others were taking photos outside.” Eventually, Aquiler spoke to Azimi who broke the news to him saying, “‘we’re just letting you guys know that the property is up for sale. Just letting you guys know that this place is going to collapse,’” pointing out that it would take one major earthquake for the entire place to fall. Azimi then offered that they could help Aquiler and his family to relocate. “As he was saying this my anxiety was going up and I was thinking, ‘what are you saying right now? Are you saying I have to leave my home, my place of birth?’” says Aquiler. He made it clear to Azimi that he and his family was not leaving. Azimi came to visit them again. After praising the condition of their apartment, stating how it was “‘a very well maintained unit above the other units,’” Azimi offered them $7,500 on the spot and offered to help find them another apartment to live in. “I thought, ‘you must think I’m stupid. $7,500 is not even enough in San Francisco,” says Aquiler. Azimi even went as far as offering to help them find a house and build equity. Aquiler declined. “My heart is here. I don’t care about a house.”

Riddled with anxiety about losing their home, Aquiler reached out to SOMCAN for help. Alexa Drapiza along with SOMCAN community service worker, Ramon Bonifacio, visited the Aquilers and took the time to help them understand the situation, what they could do and expect to happen, and the different scenarios that SOMCAN has dealt with in relation to tenants rights and evictions, as well as Drapiza’s own personal experience with her building that is also on Natoma Street. Drapiza then related the case to SOMCAN tenant organizer, Raymond Castillo, who became instrumental in helping out the tenants of 566 Natoma deal with their predicament. Anxiety was high among the residents of the building but Castillo was very supportive and assured them that they do not have to worry and to “sleep okay at night” as it was all part of the process. “That gave me a sense of security and someone backing me up,” says Aquiler.

Led by Castillo, SOMCAN partnered with Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA) and moved forward with the process of the purchasing the building for the tenants through the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA). COPA has given communities a leg-up in fighting against displacement by allowing non-profits to more easily purchase existing housing to permanently take it off of the private housing market.
The legislation gives rights for qualified non-profit organizations to have a prioritized negotiation process to purchase multi-unit apartment buildings and Single Room Occupancy (SRO) hotels. COPA applies to the sale of non-condo residential buildings of three or more units. It grants a first-right-to-purchase for qualified non-profits that includes a right of first offer and a right of first refusal over multi-unit residential buildings for the purpose of preserving those units as permanent affordable housing and stabilizing those tenants living there against evictions.

On June 12, 2020, the escrow closed on 566 Natoma Street and is now owned by MEDA. It is a culmination of a months-long struggle by the tenants and the supporting organizations in the constant fight for equitable and permanent affordable housing in a city that has become harder to live in for its working class and low-income residents.