More than 150 housing rights activists marched through the Mission District on April 7 to demand better protections for renters in San Francisco and reforms to the Ellis Act. The march ended at a vacant building that other activists had occupied in a non-violent protest.

The crowd was festive at the noon rally at the 24th Street BART station plaza. Strumming a guitar, activist Tommi Avicolli-Mecca of the Housing Rights Committee led the crowd in singing a bilingual version of “We Shall Not be Moved” and a song which included the lines “Yuppie Yuppie stole my pad. Yuppie Yuppie bad, bad, bad."

Sister Bernie Galvin of Religious Witness with Homeless People then addressed the crowd. “Hundreds of families and individuals have had to leave our city,” she said. “Elderly men and women, some in their 80’s and 90’s, handicapped people, young families, people who’s immediate future depends on having to stay in their homes. It’s a moral tragedy brought on by money, money, money and more money.”

Galvin and Avicolli-Mecca were then joined at the megaphone by a guest whose presence surprised a number of activists – State Senator Carole Migden. The senator, facing a tough re-election fight against Assemblyman Mark Leno, reached out to the crowd. “This is a city of renters who have a right to be here,” she said. “They are the city’s heart and soul.”

Migden is a co-sponsor of SB 464, which would reform the Ellis Act by requiring that landlords maintain ownership of a building for more than five years before they could evict tenants. In addition, all tenants – not just elderly or disabled people – would have to be given at least a one-year notice of eviction.

After the rally, activists (most unaware of the as-yet undisclosed location of the action) marched through the Mission District to a vacant building near 23rd and Folsom – across the street from the Parque Ninos Unidos.

The front of the building was void of police until literally less than a minute before the marchers arrived. Once realizing where the crowd was headed, police sprinted ahead, with 14 officers forming a line in front of the building. They remained there in loose formation and stared down the crowd for the next two-and-a-half hours.

Some of the eight occupiers had been stationed in the building prior to the march while a few others – including Sister Bernie – slipped in before the police could stop them. Activists in the house banners outside the windows and lead the crowd in chanting “Homelessness is not a crime! and “Habituation not incarceration!”

The march and occupation was organized by Homes Not Jails, an organization formed in 1992 by activists including Ted Gullicksen of the San Francisco Tenant Union, who was one of the eight occupying the building.

At 3:30 p.m, SFPD officers descended from their position on the roof and through an open side window into the building. Brandishing a loaded rifle and an orange taser gun, police ordered the activists to leave or be charged with trespassing and felony conspiracy.

The eight, huddled together in a vacant side room, eventually decided to leave the building rather than face the unexpectedly serious charges.

Gullicksen said he was pleased with the large show of support. “We’ll be doing more actions,” he said. “Homes Not Jails has been inactive but now we’re trying to make it very active again. If they take our housing, we’re going to take it back.”

The property at 3065 23rd Street and a larger building next door – both owned by John Gaewihler – have been vacant since Gaewihler evicted all the tenants four years ago. The San Francisco Community Land Trust is considering negotiations with Gaewihler in order to make the property available for affordable housing.

The history of the occupied building itself illustrates some of the most disturbing aspects of the Ellis Act. Namely that more than 60 percent of tenants “Ellised” in San Francisco have been senior citizens. At least two seniors, one 89-years-old, were among the 15 renters evicted by Gaewihler.

According to the office of State Senator Sheila Kuehl (author of SB 464), seniors are particularly vulnerable to Ellis Act evictions since they tend to be long-term renters and have the lowest rents. This makes their buldings prime targets for speculators seeking to empty a building. According to the Tenant’s Union, 80 percent of Ellis evictions in San Francisco are done by landlords who have owned the buildings for less than five years, with 25% of eviction notices delivered in the very first month after a building is sold.

SB 464 passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 27th, but faces a potentially difficult fight in the full Senate, where Ellis Act reforms have met severe resistance and defeat many times before.

Jay Jonah Cash is a local writer and activist.