THC is the first agency to file lawsuits against hotel owners following the newly strengthened Residential Hotel Unit Conversion and Demolition Ordinance.
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Housing Clinic Sues to Halt Room Conversion
The Tenderloin Housing Clinic on Wednesday filed suit against the owners of four residential hotels in an attempt to stop their conversion to tourist hotels. Two of the San Francisco Superior Court suits allege that the owners of the Lotus Hotel at 580 O’Farrell St. and the owners of the Amsterdam Hotel at 749 Taylor St. are illegally renting to tourists rooms set aside for residents.
The two suits are Tenderloin Housing Clinic Inc. v. Gopal, 919944. Two other suits were filed against residential hotels south of Market Street. According to the complaints, 59 of the Lotus Hotel’s 70 rooms are to be saved for residential use and 14 of the Amsterdam Hotel’s 31 rooms are to be devoted to residential use only.
The suits are the first filed under San Francisco’s newly strengthened Residential Hotel Unit Conversion and Demolition Ordinance. Amended last month, the ordinance forces hoteliers to either replace every room illegally removed from the residential housing stock or to pay 80 percent of the construction cost to replace the housing.
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Preserving Affordable Housing