More than a dozen Black seniors who receive HUD subsidies were recently given eviction notices at their historic Fillmore district co-op, which they say is due to their management company’s poor bookkeeping and lack of communication.
A group of seniors at the Martin Luther King-Marcus Garvey Square Cooperative Apartments in the Fillmore say they were suddenly told they owed thousands of dollars in back payments connected to their HUD subsidies and were threatened with eviction, as the SF Standard first reported.
They say their management company, Domus, neglected to recertify their assets each year, as required by law, and property managers weren’t communicative about how much they owed each month — or they provided inconsistent numbers, according to ABC 7.
The 211-unit property became a cooperative in the late 1970s, after federal intervention took over the site and restructured it under a HUD-subsidized ownership model. The idea was to turn low-income Black tenants into shareholder-residents with a pathway to equity and intergenerational stability. Per the Standard, only a few dozen of the remaining residents at the co-op are Black — as the Black population in San Francisco has shrunk to single digits in recent years.
Nikki Love, of Open Door Legal, which represents seven of the residents, said she’s still sorting out how much her clients owe. She's also still determining what grounds the management company is using to evict them.
“We’re still trying to figure out what’s happening,” Love said, speaking to the Standard, “but it’s a mess.”
Open Door Legal’s attorneys say the evidence they’ve collected points to administrative breakdowns tied to HUD recertification requirements, including high management turnover and failures to properly communicate rent changes and paperwork needs to residents.
Residents are urging city officials to intervene before more evictions proceed, while calling into question an all-too familiar pattern affecting longtime Black residents who have built up equity over decades.
San Francisco Supervisor Bilal Mahmood said his office is investigating concerns about Domus Management’s handling of the property and is considering a potential hearing.
Domus did not respond to the media's requests for comment.
Related: Tenants at Uptown Oakland Building That Just Suffered a Fire All Receive Eviction Notices
