Proposal: Pay fee, skip condo-conversion line
Waiting to go condo is San Francisco’s version of waiting for Godot.
Building owners can spend years vying for one of 200 condo-conversion slots awarded annually via a lottery. But this year San Francisco is considering letting people skip the line, offering a one-time chance to the hundreds of folks on the lottery list to go condo now – for an extra fee. The goal is to generate more revenue for the cash-strapped city and to create building-industry jobs, because condo conversions generally require some construction work to bring buildings up to code.
“We’re investigating many revenue options to help solve the city’s budget deficit; condo conversion is one of them,” e-mailed Joe Arellano, a spokesman for Mayor Gavin Newsom.
A proposal to expedite condo conversion would require approval by either the supervisors or the voters – no easy task in a city where housing issues are famously contentious. Tenant advocates say the practice hurts renters who get evicted when buildings convert to tenancies in common, the step before going condo. Previous proposals for increased condo conversions have failed miserably.