“Invasion of the Gentrification Mob” -- Skyline’s Rampage on the City’s Affordable HousingPaul Hogarthbyline‚ Dec. 18‚ 2006Rent control is the single most effective program in San Francisco to prevent mass displacement and runaway gentrification. But because rents get set at market-rate whenever there is a vacancy, property owners have always salivated at the prospect of removing long-term tenants. Many have attempted to skirt around the city’s tenant protections – but few are as aggressive as Skyline Realty, who through a web of subsidiaries own over 5,200 apartment units in San Francisco. On December 15th, reporter J.K. Dineen of the S.F. Business Times revealed that Skyline purchased ten multi-unit buildings in November – adding 200 more apartments to their massive empire. Skyline’s method of purchasing properties (by out-bidding all other buyers by paying above market rate) has put their coercive practice of forcing out tenants into their business model. Beyond the individual lives destroyed, what it also does is unfairly skew the housing market for everyone – landlords and tenants alike. |