SRO CODE VIOLATIONS — HOW YOU CAN FIGHT BACK!
Managers and owners of single room occupancy hotels (SRO) know that their rooms are a step from and a step to homelessness in San Francisco. For years they have gotten away with violating San Francisco codes. That’s why Paul Hogarth, a code enforcement monitor for the Tenderloin Housing Clinic (THC), was telling a dozen residents at the Central City SRO Collaborative (CCC), about what avenues they can take.
It’s the SRO residents that must take the first step. “If no one complains that the managers of an SRO have nailed shut a bathroom or shower door because something isn’t working, then nothing will get fixed,” he said.
Hogarth and the SRO tenants were brainstorming about what code violations City departments and the City Attorney’s office need to address. “There are four steps to code enforcement: inspection; re-inspection; director’s hearing; and then the City Attorney takes action.
“The reality is, if you don’t have tenants who are organized, and the CCC or the THC consistently pushing the case — making sure that director’s hearings are scheduled ASAP,” Hogarth explained, “Making sure that you walk through with the inspector during the inspection and re-inspection and make sure that there isn’t a stone unturned, that they have crossed every “T,” and dotted every “I,” — nothing will get done.”
Hogarth said that he has found that when an inspector goes into a room to see a few violations and then asks the residents if there are anything else that needs to be looked at, they say “No,” but later they remember that the toilet and elevator was broken.
Inspectors need to be told about broken items. If they find a violation, the manager will get a “Notice of Violation,” and has 24 hours to fix the problem, according to code enforcement monitor Hogarth. If the violation isn’t fixed when the inspector returns, the manager has to go to a director’s hearing, and explain there why the violation hasn’t been fixed. After that, the case is handed to the City Attorney’s office, where they can sue the building owner, he added.
Once it gets to the City Attorney’s office, they can only sue for violations that have been reported. Hogarth said that the main reason hotel managers and owners routinely get away with violating city codes is because there isn’t any proof that the violation is a chronic problem. “It is important to document everything that is wrong with your room, and the building,” he said.
Hogarth said that the way you go about documenting violations is by writing everything down, or even getting a photo. “Make sure that you document the date and time of the problem in detail, and that the manager’s signature is on the complaint form, and make a copy of it for your records,” he said.
City Attorney’s Office
Once the City Attorney’s office gets involved they can sue the owner of the building, but the lawsuit will only concern what the violation was. Presently, the City Attorney’s office has suits against the Boyd Hotel at 41 Jones Street.
The problems at that SRO hotel range from no heat to the elevator not working. They also have other cases pending against buildings in the Mission, Tenderloin, the Bay View, and on Sixth Street. These areas are where most of San Francisco’s SRO hotels are located.
In April of 2000 the City Attorney’s office sued the owners of the Drake Hotel at 235 Eddy St. and the Hotel West at 141 Eddy St. They were charged with kicking people out of their hotel rooms before they could establish tenancy so they wouldn’t get legal protections — better known as “Musical Rooms,” as reported in the Chronicle.
San Francisco code enforcement includes fire, building, housing, and health and safety codes. The City Attorney’s office gets its code violation cases from City departments, as well as from SRO residents calling the Task Force number.
Other Alternatives
While Hogarth was talking, a staffer from the SRO Collaborative added that SRO residents could take their case to the rent board and get their rent reduced. If the case is won, the reduction can be any amount the judge deems necessary by the nature of any violations found, and from proof of dates when the hotel managers were notified of the complaints. That’s where good documentation of the violations comes in handy.
Hogarth added that SRO tenants should never stop paying their rent, regardless of the nature of the violation, because all they will accomplish is getting themselves evicted.
Adrian