San Francisco, CA – San Francisco Tenant Right to Counsel attorneys representing residents in the Potrero Hill Terrace-Annex today demanded the San Francisco Housing Authority (SFHA) stop mass evictions at the complex as the first cases involving the mass evictions appear for trial.

“Our clients are asylum seekers, working families, elderly people, and disabled children. They have lived in Potrero Hill Terrace-Annex for years and paid rent to disgraced San Francisco Housing Authority property managers who promised safe and affordable housing and instead engaged in a conspiracy to defraud our clients,” wrote Tenant Right to Counsel nonprofits whose attorneys represent the Potrero Hill Terrace-Annex residents in a letter to the San Francisco Housing Authority today. “Already, residents have left under duress, been forcibly removed by the Sheriff, and evicted to street homelessness. This must stop.”

The San Francisco Housing Authority has filed approximately 40 eviction lawsuits against residents in the complex in the past few months. The complex is slated to be redeveloped into mixed-use housing.

Residents facing eviction from the Potrero Hill Terrace-Annex have lived in the complex for years, and many paid rent to a property manager working there.

So far, the SFHA has not offered to relocate residents to transitional or permanent housing. Residents who lose their eviction cases risk having an eviction on their record, which can make it difficult for them to live in government-subsidized housing going forward. While some residents have lost their eviction cases by not responding to the lawsuit in time, none have been decided on the merits.

That began to change last Monday when two of the Potrero Hill Terrace-Annex cases appeared for trial but were taken off calendar because the San Francisco Housing Authority failed to appear. The next case is slated to appear for trial in San Francisco Superior Court today. These cases could reach a jury in the coming weeks.

The letter sent today to the San Francisco Housing Authority is enclosed.

For questions, contact: EDC Community Outreach Senior Litigation Attorney Jessica Santillo at JessicaS@evictiondefense.org.