Recent Eviction Battles Reveal Need for Change at Planning Department

From today's BeyondChron...

There appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel for three long-term tenants at Lyon and Golden Gate. In 2002, Prana 8 Investments purchased their building, a massive Victorian with 13 units of rental housing. In an attempt to free up units to be rented out at market rate, Prana 8 filled out an over-the-counter permit application at the Planning Department that claimed certain units were illegal and needed to be brought up to code. Because the application for the permit does not require landlords to reveal whether tenants occupy units claimed to be illegal, Planning did not review the application, thus nearly allowing Prana 8 to evict tenants so changes to the ‘illegal’ units could be made. The problem - the units weren’t illegal, and the permit simply represented a back-door attempt to circumvent Planning Commission restrictions on the elimination of rental housing. The permit would have also allowed Prana 8 to seal up the back doors and remove the porches and decks of many of their tenants, clearing the way for destruction of an adjoining building where condos could then be built. Sadly, the building at Golden Gate and Lyon is not the only case revealing this glaring loophole in the city’s planning process. [more]