San Francisco's Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, to bar landlords from evicting tenants for unpaid rent when they owe less than one month's fair-market rent, Mission Local reported. The ordinance, by District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder, still needs a second vote, KALW reported, and could take effect as early as December.
Why it matters: Until now, the city's rent ordinance let landlords evict for nonpayment of any amount. Fielder said 25% of eviction cases in 2025 involved less than one month's fair-market rent.
The new thresholds
Fair-market rent is set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. For San Francisco it is currently:
- Studio: $2,485
- One-bedroom: $2,977
- Two-bedroom: $3,604
Under the ordinance, a landlord could only bring a nonpayment eviction when the tenant owes more than that amount for a comparable unit. Many tenants pay well above those figures, Mission Local noted.
Support and opposition
Seven supervisors co-sponsored the measure and Mayor Daniel Lurie supports it. "This is a simple but very meaningful change to our rent ordinance that will help curb so many of the evictions we are seeing today," Fielder said at a committee hearing last month.
The San Francisco Apartment Association told the board the ordinance conflicts with state law and asked it to wait for a California Supreme Court ruling on a similar Los Angeles law, which the Apartment Association of Los Angeles challenged in 2023. "By adopting the ordinance now, the Board would be inviting litigation over a policy whose validity will soon be resolved by the state's highest court," the association wrote. Oakland and Berkeley have passed similar rules.
Context
KALW reported evictions in San Francisco are up 44% from last year while rents have risen more than 28%. Lurie declared a rent emergency in September. Read our earlier report: San Francisco eviction notices up 44% during the AI boom.