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David Chiu, City Attorney

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Housing & Tenant Rights

Herrera secures $620,000 from landlords who housed tenants in unsafe, dungeon-like basement

June 30, 2022May 17, 2018 by S.F. City Attorney's Press Office
Settlements include protections to prevent tenant exploitation after about two dozen tenants were found living in an underground firetrap

Categories Affordable Housing, Code Enforcement, Housing & Tenant Rights, News

Herrera sues owners of illegal hotel in Bernal Heights where party became gunfight

June 30, 2022May 16, 2018 by S.F. City Attorney's Press Office
Owners living in Bali turned the house into illegal short-term rental hotel; party there devolved into a 100-round shootout that terrified the neighborhood

Categories Affordable Housing, Housing & Tenant Rights, News

Herrera pursues $5.5 million penalty from scofflaw owners over illegal Airbnb rentals

June 30, 2022May 1, 2018 by S.F. City Attorney's Press Office
City Attorney Dennis Herrera at a City Hall press conference
Brazen property owners defied the law, turned 14 homes into an illicit hotel chain in the midst of San Francisco’s housing crisis

Categories Affordable Housing, Housing & Tenant Rights, News

Herrera wins victory for low-income tenants

June 30, 2022April 12, 2018 by S.F. City Attorney's Press Office
Deputy City Attorneys Sara Eisenberg and Brad Russi discuss litigation strategy after winning a key procedural ruling on March 22, 2016.
Appellate court upholds SF law that prevents discrimination against Section 8 renters; Lembi-affiliated landlord, real estate broker must accept federal housing vouchers

Categories Affordable Housing, Consumer Protection, Defending S.F. Laws, Housing & Tenant Rights, News, Tenants

Herrera settles with landlords who crammed veterans into illegal and unsafe housing

June 30, 2022February 12, 2018 by S.F. City Attorney's Press Office
Landlords will pay $2 million, make buildings compliant with safety codes and fund housing placement for tenants who would have been displaced

Categories Affordable Housing, Housing & Tenant Rights, News

Herrera cracks down on affordable housing fraudster

June 30, 2022August 23, 2017 by S.F. City Attorney's Press Office
“The court forcefully affirmed San Francisco’s interest in protecting public health, and repeatedly emphasized the likelihood that the sugary soda lobby’s case would fall flat,” City Attorney Dennis Herrera said.
City Attorney continues push to stop affordable housing cheats and ensure homes go to those who need them

Categories Affordable Housing, Code Enforcement, Housing & Tenant Rights, News

Herrera pursues restitution and penalties from landlord who kept 20 tenants in firetrap basement

June 30, 2022August 22, 2017 by S.F. City Attorney's Press Office
Senior, 12-year-old girl among those who lived in warren of illegal units in former garage with no windows and one exit

Categories Affordable Housing, Code Enforcement, Housing & Tenant Rights

Judge boosts penalties to $2.7 million in final ruling on ruthless landlord

June 30, 2022May 24, 2017 by S.F. City Attorney's Press Office
With final court decision, Anne Kihagi must immediately comply with a broad injunction that will transfer her property operations to a city-approved manager

Categories Affordable Housing, Housing & Tenant Rights, News

Herrera busts two affordable housing cheats

June 30, 2022May 11, 2017 by S.F. City Attorney's Press Office
Groundbreaking enforcement to ensure affordable housing goes to those who need it

Categories Affordable Housing, Housing & Tenant Rights, News

Herrera to get evictions voided, win $2.4 million judgment against notorious landlord

June 30, 2022May 3, 2017 by S.F. City Attorney's Press Office
Court rules against abusive landlord on every count in tentative decision; pending evictions to be cancelled, allowing those tenants to remain

Categories Affordable Housing, Housing & Tenant Rights, Kihagi, News, Tenants

Herrera repels legal challenge to short-term rental law, secures settlement with Airbnb and HomeAway

January 19, 2023May 1, 2017 by S.F. City Attorney's Press Office
Deal protects homes, clears way for city enforcement, makes mandatory host registration easier

Categories Affordable Housing, Housing & Tenant Rights, News

Herrera secures landmark settlement valued at $60 million from Academy of Art University

June 30, 2022December 19, 2016 by S.F. City Attorney's Press Office
Record code settlement requires academy to provide at least 160 units of affordable housing at no cost to the city, pay millions more to keep at-risk tenants in their homes

Categories Academy of Art University, Affordable Housing, Housing & Tenant Rights, News

Federal judge gives initial backing to SF law that holds online rental platform companies accountable for illegal rentals

June 30, 2022November 8, 2016 by S.F. City Attorney's Press Office
Judge rejects arguments from online rental platforms. Herrera applauds ruling

Categories Affordable Housing, Housing & Tenant Rights, News

Herrera urges HUD to reconsider

June 30, 2022August 25, 2016 by S.F. City Attorney's Press Office
City Attorney Dennis Herrera has urged HUD Secretary Julián Castro to reverse its disapproval of of San Francisco's Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plan.
S.F. City Attorney contends that the federal housing agency was “wrong as a matter of law and public policy” to reject San Francisco’s Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plan

Categories Affordable Housing, Defending S.F. Laws, Housing & Tenant Rights, Land Use, Neighborhood Protection, News, Tenants

Amendments proposed to strengthen City’s short-term rental law against legal challenge

June 30, 2022July 12, 2016 by S.F. City Attorney's Press Office
San Francisco Supervisor David Campos.
Campos and Herrera agree that modest revisions can both address platforms’ objections in federal lawsuit and fulfill the intent of a fair, enforceable ordinance

Categories Affordable Housing, Defending S.F. Laws, Housing & Tenant Rights, Land Use, News, Tenants

Herrera wins preliminary injunction in Section 8 housing discrimination case

June 30, 2022May 24, 2016 by S.F. City Attorney's Press Office
Lembi-affiliated landlord, real estate broker must accept federal housing vouchers from low-income renters under local law, Superior Court Judge Quidachay rules

Categories Affordable Housing, Housing & Tenant Rights, News, Tenants

Herrera seeks injunction to halt discrimination over Section 8 housing vouchers

June 30, 2022April 20, 2016 by S.F. City Attorney's Press Office
City Attorney calls vouchers ‘an essential tool for many San Franciscans to access affordable housing—especially in crisis like the one we are currently experiencing’

Categories Housing & Tenant Rights, News, Tenants

Herrera’s Section 8 housing discrimination case clears key hurdle with Superior Court ruling

June 30, 2022March 22, 2016 by S.F. City Attorney's Press Office
Deputy City Attorneys Sara Eisenberg and Brad Russi discuss litigation strategy after winning a key procedural ruling on March 22, 2016.
Judge denies bid by notorious Lembi landlord and real estate broker to dismiss suit, affirming San Francisco law prohibiting refusals to accept federal housing vouchers

Categories Housing & Tenant Rights, News, Tenants

Court rejects Kihagi’s bid to derail Herrera’s lawsuit over evictions, code violations

June 30, 2022December 15, 2015 by S.F. City Attorney's Press Office
Litigation against notoriously vicious landlord’s serial evictions of rent-controlled tenants, refusal to obey housing laws now proceeds to Jan. 12 injunction hearing

Categories Code Enforcement, Housing & Tenant Rights, Illegal Businesses, Kihagi, Tenants

‘Ruthless predator’ Kihagi faces injunction bid by Herrera to halt evictions, code violations

June 30, 2022December 4, 2015 by S.F. City Attorney's Press Office
Notorious landlord and real estate investor’s harassment of rent-controlled tenants, refusal to obey housing laws force City Attorney to seek extraordinary relief

Categories Code Enforcement, Housing & Tenant Rights, Illegal Businesses, Kihagi, Neighborhood Protection, News, Tenants
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