unanimously at the board of supervisors. i was the guy who created the legislation that was supposed to keep all of these people, who evicted a senior or disabled person from condo converting and i have the proof here that that's not working, that -- and we have an indication that this could be a much bigger problem, that there could be all of these condos that should have -- these buildings that should never have been able to condo convert that are condo converting. and i call on you all to support a call for the city to put a moratorium on all condo conversions until there can be a thorough audit of the city agencies responsible for preventing these illegal evictions from happening. and that has to stop right now. because any -- it's possible that this group of people, that you're giving this fast pass to condo conversion to, quite possible some of them have -- disable the people and should not be able to condo convert.

also, after being evicted from my home, i want a bmr condo which i had to sell because i can no longer afford it and we could not refinance when my roommate retired. so i believe in real affordable home ownership through bmrs. t.i.c.s don't pass my moral compass. but it never occurred to me that i would say my finances are hard and i need you to remove those affordability restrictions from bmrs. i knew what the risks are and took the consequences. also -- >> chair wiener: i will ask people to let everyone speak, without positive or negative statements from the audience. thank you. were you done? thank you. i am aware of that. >> my name is tommy, i'm with

the housing rights committee of san francisco. id like to talk about the -- of protections that tenants have in the law right now. the reality is there are no real protections for tenants right now in the law that will stop a tenant from being evicted for a t.i.c. there is no real protection. let's talk about the peskin legislation which i helped pass in 2005. right after that passed speculators and investors began to do buyouts. we saw them in my office, tons of buyout letters. they started to do threats, among spanish speakers they were telling them we're going to report you because we know you're undocumented if you don't leave. the reality they shifted from using ellis to using threats and buyouts. we don't know how many buildings are in the lottery right now where that happened, where someone was bought out or threatened. how can we talk about clean buildings unless we do some kind of investigation. the protection in wiener and

farrell's legislation for someone living in a t.i.c., we all know the lifetime leases are problematic under costa hawkins, but the other thing is it's very simple for a landlord of a t.i.c. to simply threaten or buy out that tenant and circumvent the lifetime lease. again there are no real protections for tenants. the only real protection for tenants against evictions for t.i.c.s is to not do t.i.c.s, period, end of discussion. let's provide homeowners other ways. we should be building. new construction is how we provide home ownership for middle income people. stop cannibalizing the rental stack. evicting one group of people to provide homes for others is not good policy. we should be together in demanding that this city provide affordable housing for everyone, and that we use new construction to provide condos for are people in the middle income level. thank you. >> chair wiener: thank you.

next speaker. >> good afternoon. i'm marie coons from district 10, a t.i.c. owner. we bought our four unit building in 2005. we're original t.i.c. partners. it was our way into the market at that time. my other partners are much younger than i am. i came into it as a -- after a dissolution of a marriage and it was my only ability to be able to buy at that time. we're very supportive of this condo bypass conversion, and we ask that you please take it into consideration. it's the answer to a lot of people's need to have homes in san francisco. thank you. >> chair wiener: thank you. next speaker. >> high name is sheryl power, i live in district 5, i'm a t.i.c. owner and i bought my t.i.c. in 2004, with two other couples.

and it was a perfectly empty building. nobody was evicted. we bought it from a retiring couple and their kids use the other two units. it's a three unit building. at the time we thought it would take five to seven years to convert and we got our adjustable loan and now we're sitting on an adjustable loan and watching the market go by us. and i'm just worried every year if i'm going to be able to afford to stay. i don't make nearly as much money as i used to and now i'm a single mom. and i really want to raise my daughter in san francisco. and ides like to get out from underneath my t.i.c. loan. so i have a chance of doing that. thanks. >> chair wiener: thank you very much. next speaker. >> afternoon, supervisors. my name is mike sullivan. i'm the cochair of plan c san francisco. we're the group that has led the

fight for these first time homeowners and renters who want to be homeowners some day to achieve condo reform. you have heard already, and will hear more from many people about why this is good for san franciscans, why this is smart policy. if ever there was a fair compromise piece of legislation, this is it. helping hundreds and hundreds of your constituents, hurting no one, and providing 20 million, 25 million perhaps for affordable housing in san francisco, this is truly a win/win/win situation. but i'm not going to talk today about why this is good policy because you will hear that from others. what i'd like to talk about is why this is good politics as well. if you can get that on the screen. they say a picture speaks a thousand words. and as soon as this shows up -- >> chair wiener: one second.

sf gtv needs to actually broadcast that. if you could pause the clock please. thanks. why don't we go on to the next speaker and when we get this fixed we will bring you back for your public comment. i apologize. next speaker please. >> good afternoon, supervisors. first of all i want to thank you for your time to listen to all of us today. this is a long afternoon for you, so we appreciate your time.

my name is -- i'm a resident of district 1 in the richmond district. i want to say that i really urge you to support this ordinance. i'm a t.i.c. owner. i believe this ordinance is a win/win solution for the city, for renters, for t.i.c. owners and people who want to own property in san francisco and stay here in the future. i'm a working class person in san francisco. i immigrated here when i was 9 with my family. we're a family of five. my dad makes $600, back in 1984. we had to pay $400 into rent, to a studio in san francisco. so i have really gone through the system. i went through diablo elementary school, press h presidio middle, and completed my bachelor's degree. i'm fortunate enough to return

to the city and similar to all the stories you've heard today, in 2005 i borrowed from friends and family in order to buy this t.i.c. unit. today, we're a four unit t.i.c. building. all of the owners are middle class family. most of us were born and raised in san francisco, or pretty much grew up in the city. we're very vested in the city. we work here, volunteer here, and we would appreciate your help to allow us to stay here. so please support this ordinance, and this is good policy, good politics, and good for the city, and appreciate your time. thank you. >> chair wiener: thank you very much. and i believe we've now worked out the problem with sf gov -- we haven't? sorry, mr. sullivan. next speaker please. >> hi. my name is darren -- i'm in district 5. and i came to give you another human face to what this would actually do for people in the city. i'm an actor.

i do mostly theater. i've been here 20 years. my wife is a psycho therapist and codirector of the haight ashbury services which provides help for the working poor in san francisco. we're renters for a long time. t.i.c. was not our goal. we didn't buy t.i.c. to be t.i.c. owners the rest of our lives. we're trying to be homeowners in the city and that's the vehicle to be able to do it. as you see from this diagram that mr. sullivan will bring up, it's not possible now to become a condo. the lottery is broken. and so meanwhile we're sitting in a home without the same kinds of protections and rights that other people have, a normal homeowner would have or renters have. that's why this is important. we're getting squeezed. i honestly think you can't -- this is an affordable housing issue for everybody. you can't just help renters. you have to help homeowners as well. we're all in it together. frankly i don't understand, one

should balance the other out. if rents become too high then people buy homes. if homes become too high they become renters. we're not developers, we're not kicking anybody out, we're just trying to own our own home. thanks. >> chair wiener: thank you. next speaker please. >> good afternoon. my name is joanne, i am a t.i.c. owner. i first moved to san francisco in 1996. first i was a renter, i lived in noe, cole, bernal heights. i was able to purchase a t.i.c. in 2006 and we've been participating in the lottery every year that we've been eligible. and we have a long-term commitment to this neighborhood, myself and my fellow owners. in fact one of my fellow owners had been a renter in the building and when they are landlord put it on the market that's when we bought it. so this was an opportunity for her to stay in the apartment

that she's been in since i think 1996, herself. we're worried though about our financial flexibility and our ability to refinance. frankly,i'm even more scared after today because i didn't realize how bad it was until i heard a lot of the testimony from others today. you know, the 200 units a year, that was appropriate at the time that the lottery was set up, but it's clearly no longer appropriate to the current situation, the current housing market. and it no longer represents a reasonable percentage of the building -- or the units that are available today. i just want to reiterate i think this is a win for everyone. i think it provides much-needed cash for the city, it helps out -- removes the financial instability for the t.i.c. owners, and finally -- and i do not see it -- tenants because they're not in these units today. thank you.

>> chair wiener: thank you. next speaker. >> mr. chair, i believe it's working now. >> chair wiener: oh, it is working. mr. sullivan, you can come back up. my apologies and we will restore the amount of time that you had left. >> thank you, supervisors. what this chart shows is both the policy and the politics of condo reform. the red line going up shows that over the last 10 years, the number of people backed up behind the lottery has tripled. at the same time, the black bar going down, over the same period, shows that evictions are down by over 80%. and so you have hundreds and thousands of people who are frustrated, who just want to own their own homes in san francisco, who are the life blood of this city, who are frustrated, at the same time that tenants know or should know if they read this legislation that they are absolutely protected with rock solid protections that the proponents

of this legislation have bent over backwards to make sure there are tenant protection and they should be applauded for that. so there is a myth that supporting condo reform is toxic if you're a politician in san francisco and i argue that it's just the opposite right now. we have made it our job to make sure that every one of these 10,000 t.i.c. owners and probably 14,000 t.i.c. voters know who's helping them with condo reform and who is not. they're turning out in droves in elections. they turned out in droves in district 5 in our most recent election and they are turning out -- and if there was ever a single issue voter these are people -- this is the legislation that is the most important to their personal lives, that affects their families, it affects them more than anything else. so this is not only good policy for san francisco. i think you've heard that from a number of people. but it's also good politics for anybody who has the courage to support this legislation. thank you. >> chair wiener: thank you. next speaker.

>> hi. good afternoon. mark brian. and i am a t.i.c. owner in district 5, i'm a single parent, i've been a resident of san francisco for 22 years. 12 years ago i went together with two other -- or a young families, so that we could buy a home that was affordable in san francisco. we were sold a bill of goods by the real estate agents that we would be able to convert. we initially moved into our home and enjoyed it, waiting to get into the lottery. now it's many, many years later, i've been in the lottery for seven years, our children have grown up and yet i'm here asking to pay the city of san francisco for the right to have -- to be a homeowners here in this fine city. so i'm willing to pay. all i want to do is have the same rights that other homeowners have, to have my -- and i'm doubly held hostage by

the collapse of the mortgage industry which has limited options of t.i.c. owners. we're asking what's fair for those in the middle class and who chose to stay here and asking to be set free from this hostage information. isn't that what san francisco is about, fairness and freedom for everyone, including the middle class. thank you. >> chair wiener: thank you. next speaker. >> you mentioned you were sold a bill of goods by your real estate agent. can you exownd. >> we were told the process could take five to seven years to get through the lottery process and yet there was no rules on how many new t.i.c.s could come into the program. but they said there was a growing demand to go into the lottery but the stagnant amount of folks coming out. so now your odds of getting through the lottery are 20 years. and the double whammy was being then the mortgage marketed

collapsed so our options for financing -- i mean this is the biggest investment that every person in my building -- it was empty when we bought it. we're all still there and being held hostage by our mortgage. we have no choices. so it's really, really unfair that we were told this is a process, you can convert to own yourself. and yet they just continue to stuff the pipe, in my opinion, because it was commissions for them. they could bundle thee people together, five people together, get a bigger commission. we were naive first time homebuyers, every person in our lottery and now paying the price of wanting to live and own a home in san francisco. that's what we're guilty of. >> supervisor chiu: thank you. >> chair wiener: thank you. next speaker. >> my name is sandra and this is my husband, i'm a 20 year resident of san francisco and nine year t.i.c. owner. i was a renter for many years with a dream of one day owning

in san francisco. after a lot of hard work and savings my husband and i were able to buy a t.i.c. we were not looking for a t.i.c. but it was at the price point we could afford. i am not rich. i am a working class professional. paying my property taxes, sending my son to public school in san francisco, trying to make ends meet like most people here. we have been patiently waiting to condo convert for six years with our financial stability deteriorating. we are trapped by our loan because we are not able to refinance and have a balloon payment due in two years. i'm scared what will happen in two years. i am not a real estate investor. i'm not looking to float my home. i am a mother who wants to raise her child in san francisco and have the same mortgage financing options as the rest of the countries. i urge you to support the condo bypass legislation. >> chair wiener: thank you very much. next speaker.

>> hello. my name is julie, and i'd like to thank the supervisors for taking this into such serious and strong consideration. i think what's evident today is that the t.i.c. units and ownership is very unique to san francisco and therefore requires unique and brave decisions. i'm a single woman, i've lived here for 20 years, i bought my first home as a t.i.c., not because i was looking to flip a unit, not because i'm wealthy but because i worked very hard to do what seemed practical and smart. i can't believe i'm standing here right now thinking that buying a home in san francisco is the most regrettable thing i've ever done because it's actually the most difficult, pretty much anywhere in the country. i think the devastating concern right now is of course what people have said about these loans. but san francisco is a subprime market crash waiting to happen. and we have to wake up and all of you, the supervisors opposed,

have to consider the reality of this. the difference is that we are not subprime in that we've all honored these homes, we all have high credit ratings, we've been very thoughtful and efficient about our part of the deal. but when inflation hits and these loans, which are not extendible past five years, crash, we're all going to default. this is real. this is not about the lower class versus the middle class. it's unique to this particular sect of people and we have a problem. and i believe that this solution is a big part of rectifying that problem. i think that there's a lot of misconception that all of these units are going to go off the charts financially. they'll go off the charts if we stay t.i.c. because our mortgages are going to be 6,000 and we're going to have to rent to get our kids in schools in the suburbs. that's what's going to drive these prices up, not making this change with strong protections

for 2,000 units which is 1% of the san francisco market. what's going to drive the cost up is mortgages that are not -- >> chair wiener: thank you very much. next speaker. >> my name is -- and i'm a t.i.c. owner. this is actually very important to me and i wrote a few sentences here to share with you. i'm writing to urge you to support the condo bypass legislation recently introduced by supervisors farrell and wiener. this legislation will help my family and many other hundreds of first time homeowners in san francisco, while protecting tenants in raising an estimated 20 to 25 million in funds for affordable housing. we bought our two bedroom t.i.c. unit in october 2007. it was the only type of property we were able to afford at that time. now, the times have changed. five years and two kids later, we're in need of a different

home. we tried selling our t.i.c. unit in september last year, and -- how initially attracted potential buyers were quickly turning away upon learning our unit was a t.i.c. we're not in it to make money. many buyers are afraid of t.i.c.s. and are willing to pay higher prices for the more familiar condominium type property. as most of our savings are locked in our property we feel very trapped and unable to move to a bigger house or a bigger apartment with two kids. if we were able to sell our t.i.c. property, we would be able to afford the bigger home in san francisco. by not allowing us to convert to condo, the city is not only losing the proposed conversion fee, but also the the tax from the two potential property sales of our current unit and the future unit. please help my family and other trapped t.i.c. owners in the

city. and i have to add that this is the first time, after many, many years, that i feel there is some likelihood of this very long tunnel. thank you for your time. >> chair wiener: thank you. i will call more names. josephine -josephine --y, shirl, shirley, christina, chin, ingles, jim inglings, jake block, chi, jane, susan, kay walker, deborah -- brian blake, iris, martis, gran, stacy, kevin, rose, and beth palmer. next speaker. >> thank you. my name is -- i'm a district 8 t.i.c. owner.

i purchased a three unit t.i.c. in 2007, with a 20% downpayment. i lived with my wife and two children. since the peak of the market there's been a dynamic change in the financial lending practices of banks in the bay area that i believe is quite unfair. right now, we have tried to sell one of the three units in our building twice, with no success, due to the inability to refinance. additionally, my partner and i have tried to refinance our property twice in the past year and a half. both times being denied. the reason that we are being denied, our mortgage is the fact that many banks right now, we have approached three banks in the bay area, to refinance our house. they required 30% down and above market rates of about 5 to 6% mortgage rate onable basis. what that is telling the marketplace and people like myself who want to live in the city that t.i.c.s are actually an inaffordable option requiring

30% down versus a condominium or typical house requiring 20% down to finance a home. so t.i.c. structure requires more money up front and also requires much more cost on a monthly basis. for owners like myself i'm unable to refinance at market rate and stuck at a 6% rate. much like the woman who spoke in front of me we're facing a time where we will be saddled with a community with balloon mortgages and unaffordable payments. i urge you to please support plan c and to support plan c. thank you. >> chair wiener: next speaker. >> afternoon. my name is greg, i'm in your district, supervisor chiu. i believe -- for the greater part of 15 years, been a renter for most of them, was fortunate to be able to afford the ability

to get into the real estate market to purchase a t.i.c. about six years ago, moved into a five unit t.i.c. building of which everyone in the building is a first time homebuyer. we had one kid in the building that's grown to six with another on the way. everyone is young and building families and everyone desires to stay in san francisco. i myself have two daughters, one who is six months old and the other is three and a half years old. my wife and i love san francisco, we'd love to stay here but the financing options for the t.i.c. has been so onerous that we have right now only one option for refinancing, and if we do want to go into a bigger place in the city it's going to be difficult to sell our place because of the limited financing options. i know everyone in our t.i.c. will run into the same problems as each unit grows their families out. we're highly in support of this legislation and want you to know we're not landlords. we're not -- we're owners but

we're all renters and everyone in our unit, in our five units, is -- you know, at t.i.c. owner because that was the only way they could get into the market for the first time so we're highly supportive of this. we pay a lot of property taxes to the city and we know that if we do have to move out -- keep our place as a rental there is opportunity that this potentially leads to increase in the rents because we have to charge a high price because or financing options lead to high -- to make our monthly mortgage high. thank you. >> chair wiener: thank you. next speaker. >> my name is amy. unfortunately, i'm disabled since the late 90's, and i'm looking for -- i don't know is low income housing i can buy,

but ununfortunate, it's very difficult for me because i'm -- since i got sick i'm no longer able to work -- you know, even i work for the government, they kick me out. so it's really disaster for me. and also, the rental is very expensive way now. and even though my landlord -- my landlord and land lady, they've been giving me lots of hard time, you know, try to -- in a way they try to kick me out. and they even fix, you know, whatever damage, they won't fix it for me, and they keep increasing my rent, illegally. how i -- finally went to the rent board last year and i found out, and the rent board suggest me file a complaint, you know, but you can imagine disabled person, you know. i don't want to suffer too much mentally. so -- and i want to -- if i want to buy a low income housing,

whatever you call, you know, and i have difficulty to afford, and now i'm looking forward, like -- renting a place to live, but now everywhere so expensive, and i don't know how to go to, and where to go to. and -- face the reality, you know, this is very difficult to rent a place to live, especially for disabled person. thank you. >> co-chair kim: thank you. >> good afternoon, land use. and i think it's time ♪ you started land living. ♪ it's time you let and property living. ♪ it's time you let someone else do some giving. ♪ land --