San Francisco Apartment Assn. v. City and County of San Francisco (2018)

To reduce the number of no-fault evictions of families with children and educators
during the school year, the City and County of San Francisco and the San Francisco
Board of Supervisors (collectively, the City) barred such evictions. The trial court
concluded state law preempted this ordinance and the City appeals. We agree with the
City that the ordinance is not preempted, and reverse.
                                      BACKGROUND
        In April 2016, the City enacted Ordinance No. 55-16 (the Ordinance). The
Ordinance begins with a series of findings: low- and middle-income households
displaced by no-fault evictions often cannot afford to remain in the City; “[s]tudies
overwhelmingly demonstrate that moving homes in the middle of a school year can be
harmful for children”; school teachers and other staff “tend to be especially vulnerable to
displacement due to salary limitations”; and “mid-year evictions of school staff disrupt
relationships that are important to children, interfere with the learning process, and
burden our schools.” The Ordinance therefore seeks to “reduc[e] the number of evictions
during the school year of families with children, and of teachers and other school staff
. . . . by regulating the timing of certain no-fault evictions.”
       To this end, the Ordinance amends San Francisco Administrative Code section
37.9, subdivision (j)(1), to provide: “It shall be a defense to an eviction under Sections
37.9(a)(8) [owner move-in], (a)(9) [condominium conversion], (a)(10) [permanent
removal of the unit from housing use], (a)(11) [capital improvements ], or (a)(12)
[substantial rehabilitation] if a child under the age of 18 or any educator resides in the
unit, the child or educator is a tenant in the unit or has a custodial or family relationship
with a tenant in the unit, the tenant has resided in the unit for 12 months or more, and the
effective date of the notice of termination of tenancy falls during the school year.”1