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<\/p>\nThe move is part of a broader affordability push by city officials, even as the tech industry\u2019s AI boom displaces working families. <\/p>\n
Sep 10, 2026<\/p>\n
Updated Sep 11, 2026<\/p>\n
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Mayor Daniel Lurie during a news conference on his budget proposal in San Francisco on June 1, 2026. San Francisco rents soared 25.6% in 2025, according to the online rental service Apartment List, which prices average monthly rent for a one-bedroom in the city at nearly $4,000.\u00a0(Santiago Mejia\/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Blasting the \u201crent emergency\u201d driving up evictions across San Francisco<\/a>, Mayor Daniel Lurie announced a $30 million package of reforms on Thursday morning to keep families in their homes.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cToday, most San Franciscans feel our city is finally moving in the right direction, but many are also asking whether they can still afford to live here,\u201d Lurie said in a statement<\/a> memorializing the speech<\/a> he gave this morning in the city\u2019s Alamo Square Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n Signs of the affordability crisis in San Francisco<\/a> are everywhere. According to new data<\/a> from online rental service Apartment List, the city led the nation in \u201cfastest year-over-year rent growth,\u201d at 11%. San Jos\u00e9, it should be noted, is in second place at 7.9% growth.<\/p>\n Citing the wave of high-paying tech jobs and ensuing housing frenzy sparked by the AI boom<\/a>, the company said that San Francisco rents are up a staggering<\/a> 25.6% in just the last year \u2014 numbers that it said are \u201cfar outpacing all other markets in the country.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt is absolutely an emergency,\u201d Meg Heisler, policy director San Francisco Anti-Displacement Coalition, said in an interview Thursday with KQED, underscoring the need for \u201cenforcement that reflects the gravity of the crisis we\u2019re in.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut we also know that most tenants are forced out before they ever get to court,\u201d Heisler said, pointing to harassment, eviction threats and illegal rent increases.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat is a whole universe of things that we think need to be addressed in addition to any proposals put forward today,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n San Francisco already provides an attorney<\/a> to all tenants facing eviction, but the reform package that Lurie announced on Thursday earmarks $3 million to expand the right to counsel for 400 San Francisco households who previously would have received only partial representation, according to the city\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n Compared with those who receive \u201climited-scope representation,\u201d Lurie\u2019s office said tenants who receive \u201cfull-scope legal representation were 39% more likely to remain in their homes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Another tack of the new reforms addresses discriminatory or other illegal renting practices, something City Attorney David Chiu laid out at the press conference with the mayor.<\/p>\n \u201cIf tenants organize, they can fight,\u201d she said. \u201cThey can stay housed for longer, but the Ellis Act does need to be repealed or reformed to stop incentivizing these kinds of evictions.\u201d<\/p>\n Lurie billed the tenant-protection package on Thursday as a component of his Family Opportunity Agenda, the two pillars of which are childcare assistance and affordable housing.\u00a0<\/p>\n Most of the $30 million infusion from the city will go toward filling the gap of expiring<\/a> federal vouchers that have been a lifeline to more than 900 people<\/a> in San Francisco since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. President Donald Trump and his U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that the $5 billion voucher program would expire at the end of 2026, four years earlier than originally envisioned.<\/p>\n Lurie said Thursday that some 650 \u201cextremely low-income households\u201d will benefit now from the $27 million being unlocked by the city\u2019s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing.\u00a0<\/p>\n The San Francisco Apartment Association, which advocates for landlords, said it has fought with the city in the past over reforms that encroach illegally on state law, and may do so again here.<\/p>\n \u201cSFAA has been in conversation with members of the Board of Supervisors on many aspects of the legislative package, and remains committed to striking the right balance between offering reasonable tenant protections and enhancing awareness about existing laws,\u201d Charley Goss, the group\u2019s government affairs spokesperson, said in a statement. \u201cThe city should do so without inappropriately punishing rental property owners for an issue beyond their control \u2014 that San Francisco\u2019s housing shortage has created high asking rents.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2250030108-scaled-e1789077751622.jpg\")
An apartment for rent sign hangs outside of an apartment building on Dec. 4, 2025, in San Francisco, California. \u00a0(Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/260622-SF-CHINATOWN-TENANT-RALLY-MD-08-KQED.jpg\")
People rally in front of 1120 Jackson St. in San Francisco to protest evictions and rent hikes proposed by the property\u2019s new owner, on June 22, 2026.\u00a0(Martin do Nascimento\/KQED)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/024_SanFrancisco_Housing_07292021_qed.jpg\")
A \u201cFor Rent\u201d sign hangs in the window of an apartment building in Nob Hill in San Francisco on July 29, 2021.\u00a0(Beth LaBerge\/KQED)<\/p>\n