Today I learned The Epoch Times has a YouTube channel!
Summary and background: the Epoch Times host interviews a landlord who’s concerned about the impact of SF’s Proposition M, which imposes a vacancy tax on residential units in multi-family dwellings with three or more units.
The landlord manages a 25-unit building, which his uncle and father acquired decades ago. He blames the WFH phenomenon and crime for people leaving SF for cheaper cities and suburbs. He says he no longer can find people willing to rent his units on his terms on Craigslist or Zillow. He’s also concerned about the cost of implementing seismic retrofitting and complying with fire safety regulations. He’s worried about how long it will take for his building to regain its value: at its peak the building had appreciated and was appraised at “10.5 or 11-million" but his broker now appraises it at “between 6 and 7 million.” He goes on from there to a broader range of complaints about the city’s policies, over-regulation, how things have changed in his time, and how the balance of power seems to have shifted to favor tenants.
As to the residential vacancy tax that theoretically prompted this:
From 2024, after a residential rental unit has been left vacant for 6 months, a tax of between $2,500 and $5,000 (based on the apartment’s size) will apply in the first year, doubling each subsequent vacant year to a maximum of $10,000-$20,000 in the third and subsequent vacant years. Proponents of the vacancy tax mention that they’re particularly concerned about corporate landlords allowing units in rent-controlled buildings to remain vacant.
Single-family homes and duplexes are exempt. The city estimates that 4,000 of the city’s 40,000 vacant units will qualify for the tax in the first year [1]
[0] (pdf) Ballot measure text: https://sfelections.sfgov.org/sites/default/files/20220207_E...
[1] https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/san-francisco-voters...