San Francisco Landlord Uses Loophole to Evict 98 Year-Old Who Paid Rent on Time for 50 Years

By David Edwards, The Raw Story

13 July 14

98-year-old San Francisco woman said this week that she is being evicted from her apartment after 50 years, and she’s never once been late paying her rent.

KRON reported that Urban Green Investments is using the 1986 Ellis Act to kick Mary Phillips out of her apartment so the company can cash in on the surging real estate market in San Francisco. The Ellis Act allows landlords to evict tenants if they are getting out of the rental business.

“I’ve been very happy here,” Phillips explained. “I’ve always paid my rent, I’ve never been late.”

Phillips, who is one of many the low-income families and seniors being evicted, has vowed to fight the eviction because she has nowhere else to go.

“I didn’t sit down and cry, I just refused to believe it,” she said. “They’re going to have to take me out of here feet first.”

“Just because of your age, don’t let people push you around,” she said.

According to the San Francisco Tenants Union, tenants fighting evictions done through the Ellis Act often win their cases.

The group Vanishingsf, which fights the “hyper-gentrification on San Francisco communities,” has encouraged people to protest Phillips’ eviction.

“Who evicts a 98 year old woman?” a post on the Vanishingsf Facebook page asked. “Feel free to let Urban Green CEO David McCloskey, who’s evicting her, know what you think, ask him how he sleeps at night and if he’d put his grandmother on the streets. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (415) 651-4441 http://www.urbangreeninv.com.”

Watch the video below from KRON, broadcast July 9, 2014.