We're getting word of a crazy story, without complete details, about a possible pending sale of a Section 8 housing project at 1049 Golden Gate Avenue, near Laguna, that was built with help from a local church and that a speculator may want to convert to market-rate units priced between $3000 and $7000. Not only does this sound like a difficult proposition given the current political climate, it may not even be legal, but housing advocates and tenants are hosting a press conference about this as we speak outside SF Superior Court.
The nearby Third Baptist Church of San Francisco (McAllister & Pierce), which was listed on affordablehousingonline.com as an owner of the property, sent out a press release about the event this afternoon, saying it was "another case of affordable housing at risk in San Francisco."
Attorneys with Renne Sloan Holtzman Sakai LLP will announce that they have just filed a temporary restraining order (TRO) in San Francisco Superior Court against the landlord of Frederick Douglas Haynes Gardens. The TRO asks for judicial intervention to halt the sale of 104 affordable apartment homes, 80% of which are under Section 8, to an unknown speculator.
A confidential seller-side e-mail obtained by attorneys working with the tenants will be produced at the press conference, stating that the building is listed for sale, and that market-rate rents in the building will rise - with the 1, 2, 3 and 4-bedroom units (each with one bath) poised to fetch between $3000 and $7000 per month.
The 104-unit building has 19 one-bedrooms, 33 two-bedrooms, 24 three-bedrooms, and 8 four-bedroom apartments all under Section 8. According to this site, rents for the smallest units at Frederick Douglas Haynes Gardens start at $800, however Section 8 rents are based on individuals' incomes. The complex currently has a HUD score of 78 out of 100 based on a recent inspection.
It's one of multiple adjacent affordable complexes that make up the core of the Western Addition.
We'll update you as we learn more via the press conference.
Update: The story is complicated and strange, but here's what there is so far. It seems that the church created a nonprofit to build and manage this housing complex, and that nonprofit has recently gone rogue.
