Water Rates Go Up
Despite widespread opposition and outrage, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission approved a huge increase in water and sewage fees at its May 8 meeting. The SFPUC claims that it needs to raise rates (which, for households with average water and wastewater use, will increase by $4.36 by July 1, 2007, and $5.81 after July 1, 2008) in order to pay for seismic improvements and other upgrades to its infrastructure. The new rate package also includes a three-tiered structure that rewards conservation. The SFAA opposed this increase and called on its members to attend the meeting at San Francisco City Hall and let their voices be heard.

SFAA Lease Available Now
The San Francisco Apartment Association is proud to announce the release of its new rental agreement. This new lease takes into account all of the most recent changes made to landlord-tenant law, both at the voting booth and by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. It will also be the first lease available from SFAA online, which should help owners get leases faster and easier than in the past. Further information about the new lease is available on SFAA’s website, www.sfaa.org.

SRO Mailbox Law in Flux
A few months back, new legislation was passed that required individual mailboxes for all residents in the city’s single-room-occupancy (SRO) hotels. However, since the ordinance passed, there has been some consternation about the implementation of this new rule since many older SROs cannot install mailboxes that will comply with current U.S. Postal Service code. The San Francisco Department of Building Inspection and the Postal Service have been working together to try to resolve these compliance issues in a satisfactory manner.

If you, or anyone you know, have successfully installed the individual mailboxes required by the ordinance, please give SFAA’s Government and Community Affairs Director Sean Pritchard a call at 415-255-2288 and tell him about how you were able to comply. Your success story could be a big help to your fellow members.

Board Votes to Add $28 Million for Housing
Despite warnings of fiscal irresponsibility from the mayor’s office, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors recently voted 8 to 3 in favor of spending an additional $28 million on affordable housing in this fiscal year. The bulk of this funding would go toward the construction and improvement of affordable housing, with a smaller chunk to go to the embattled San Francisco Housing Authority and other housing programs. The funding supplement was introduced by Supervisor Chris Daly and was quickly denounced by Mayor Gavin Newsom as being shortsighted. Newsom’s main issue was that the spending proposal would more than double the city’s projected deficit for next year and would mean that all city departments will have to cut their budgets by 3% in order for him to submit a balanced budget by the June 1 deadline.

The city has a $127 million surplus this year, but the projected deficit for next year–$25.4 million–includes the entirety of that surplus. While Newsom has come out strongly against the supplement, he has not yet said if he will use his veto power. At this point, Daly has the votes to override a veto.

Also at the board, the supervisors unanimously approved plans to demolish and rebuild the Trinity Plaza apartments at Eighth and Market streets after years of legal and political wrangling over the fate of the complex. The approved plan includes 360 apartments for current Trinity tenants that will be rent-controlled for life, as well as 230 units that will be below market rate. The rest of the new complex’s 1,900 units will be available at market rate. It is estimated that it will be built by the fall of 2010.

Good and Bad News for City’s Homeless
While city officials were cheering a substantial federal grant to help fight homelessness in the city, a new study showed that the number of homeless here has risen 2% since 2005.

First, the good news: San Francisco has received nearly $20 million in federal funds to help pay for 934 units of permanent supportive housing, 326 units of transitional housing and 50 programs that provide supportive services to the city’s homeless. This is the largest amount the city has ever received from the McKinney grant program, administered by the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development. Only eight cities nationwide received more money from this $1.4 billion program.

But the city will need all that funding and much, much more to help the growing homeless population. According to a one-night count of the city’s homeless population earlier this year, there are now 6,377 homeless people living on the city’s streets, and in its shelters, jails, hospitals and other treatment centers, versus 6,248 in 2005. HUD requires that counties that receive its funding conduct a tally every two years. Because the one-night count is not a perfect method for measuring homelessness, city officials claimed the count did not accurately represent the success that had been achieved in helping the homeless in the last two years, while some homeless advocates claimed the number of homeless was underrepresented.

Rollback of Title Insurance Rates
California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner has announced that he will continue the campaign started by former Commissioner John Garamendi to get major rollbacks on title insurance and escrow charges, and said that a lack of competition among title insurance providers led to unfair prices for their services. Poizner claims that title insurance companies have long taken advantage of the fact that most homebuyers do not “shop around” for title and escrow services. Title insurance and escrow industry groups have fought back, claiming that Poizner does not have the authority to roll back rates unless he can prove that they are excessive and that there is a lack of competition in the industry, which they say he has not done. Poizner believes he can go ahead with the estimated $1 billion per year rollback and will begin its implementation after a period of public comment.

NAA Conference in June
The National Apartment Association will hold its annual conference at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas, June 26-30, 2007. The first two days of the conference will focus on NAA committee and task group meetings, as well as the NAA-PAC Golf Tournament. The latter two days will be dedicated to educational sessions. Speakers of note include football stars Peyton Manning and Archie Manning, longtime 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl, and Chris Gardner, the inspiration for the recent Will Smith film, The Pursuit of Happyness. To register for the conference, go to www.naahq.org.