A landlord in the Mission locked 23 tenants out of a building this week that had been deemed unsafe and uninhabitable by a city building inspector. The building at 938 Hampshire Street, as ABC 7 reports, was deemed "uninhabitable due to overcrowding and raw sewage that was leaking through the ceiling" between one unit and another. The tenants were made to vacate, and then found the building locked without them being able to get in to retrieve their belongings, and they called police.
It appears that it was definitely overcrowded, with 23 people split between just two units.
An earlier promise to pay the tenants an undisclosed amount to help them relocate appears to have only been rescinded the landlord offered tenants checks for half the promised amount, less than $1000 apiece.
The landlord, Abraham Farag, turns out to have been one of five Bay Area real estate investors indicted last year in a scheme involving bid-rigging at foreclosure auctions.
It's unclear if or when the tenants may be permitted to move back in.