SF Ellis Act evictions let landlords evict all tenants to 'exit the rental business' then re-rent at market rate 5 years later

You have lived in a rent-controlled 2BR in Noe Valley for 12 years paying $1,800/month. Market rate for your unit is $4,500. Your landlord files an Ellis Act eviction — a California state law that allows landlords to evict all tenants by withdrawing the property from the rental market. You get 120 days notice (1 year if you are elderly or disabled). You receive a relocation payment of $7,000-14,000. You now need to find a new apartment at market rate: your housing cost triples overnight. The landlord waits 5 years (the minimum re-rental restriction), then re-rents the unit at $4,500 — a $2,700/month increase. So what? The Ellis Act was designed to let landlords who genuinely want to stop being landlords exit the business. In practice, it is used as an investment strategy: buy a building with below-market rent-controlled tenants, Ellis Act evict everyone, wait the mandatory period (or convert to condos), then re-enter the market at 2-3x the previous rents. Between 2010-2023, SF lost approximately 5,500 rent-controlled units to Ellis Act evictions. Each displaced tenant is a person who built a life in a neighborhood and is forced to leave the city entirely because no comparable rent-controlled unit exists. Why does this persist in the first place? The Ellis Act is a STATE law that SF cannot override — the city has tried repeatedly and been blocked. Real estate investors lobby Sacramento to preserve the Ellis Act because it is the primary mechanism to convert rent-controlled buildings into market-rate assets. The relocation payments ($7-14K) are a tiny fraction of the windfall the landlord captures ($2,700/month × 12 months × decades = $500K+ in additional rent revenue).