San Francisco's Midtown Tenants Fight For Rent Control
After six years of fighting, Midtown Park Apartments is finally on the verge of winning back rent control. On September 17th the Budget and Appropriations Committee of the Board of Supervisors will vote on legislation designed to restore rent control to Midtown.
Midtown Park Apartments is a 139-unit building complex at the corner of Geary and Divisadero in the Western Addition. It was built in 1967 for residents of the Black Fillmore-Western Addition community displaced in the 1960s during Urban Redevelopment. During that period, many Black-owned homes, businesses and churches were demolished. Today, Midtown is one of the few Black communities remaining in San Francisco.
After decades of rent control protections, a new property manager removed rent control from the complex in 2014, in some cases leading to rent increases of over 300%. The tenants went on rent strike, refusing to pay the rent increases despite the risk of eviction.
