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  1. SoMA
  2. Mission
  3. Lower Haight
  4. Russian Hill
  5. Nob Hill
  6. Hayes Valley
  7. Potrero Hill
  8. Noe Valley
  9. Pacific Heights
  10. Marina

Right now San Francisco is facing a housing crisis of sorts and an increasing number of existing apartments are being advertised on short-term rental websites such as AirBNB and VRBO. While having more short term rental units available is great for SF’s tourism economy, it may also contribute to a decline in available affordable housing in the city more broadly.

Though some current laws exist to regulate the short term rental economy, very few of these laws are enforced with regard to online travel marketplaces. Prop F sets out to achieve three things:

  • Registration of individual properties or units to the city before they are listed online
  • Verification of these registrations by marketplace companies prior to accepting the listings
  • Establish a specific complaint process around enforcing these requirements.

What is Prop F?

Prop F is focused on short-term rentals of residential units. What is a short-term rental exactly? A rental is considered “short-term” if the term is less than 30 days. Proposition F states that “the purpose of these limits is to prohibit converting rental units from residential use to tourist use and help preserve the availability of housing in San Francisco”.

More stipulations from Prop F:

  • Only “permanent residents” - people who have occupied the unit for at least 60 consecutive days - may offer residential units for short-term rent (and may only do so after registering the unit with the City’s Planning Department).
  • Under Prop F, these registered properties could not be rented on a short-term basis for more than 75 days per year.
    • Current laws allow these units to be rented “unhosted” - that is without the resident living there during the rental period - for 90 days.
    • “Hosted rentals” - when the resident is present for the duration of the rental - are allowed for an unlimited number of days each year.
    • This means that under current law, an individual can rent out an extra bedroom all year long if they so choose. Under Prop F, that would no longer be the case.
  • Hosting platforms, such as AirBnb and VRBO, would have to stop listing a unit once the 75 day quota is reached.
  • Prop F would also prohibit the short-term rental of “in-law” units (an additional living space on the same property).
  • Finally, if Prop F passes, “interested parties” will have the ability to sue any violators (or wrong-doers). “Interested parties” include people who live within 100 feet of the unit, the owner or the unit, and any housing non-profit organization.

4 Reasons to Vote Yes on Prop F:

  1. Short-term rentals (less than 30 days) can drive up housing in an already sky-high housing market in San Francisco. If tourists are willing to pay a premium price on properties in the short term, why would property owners be interested in making their units available at more reasonable prices in the longer term?
  2. There are currently almost 10,000 homes in San Francisco that are listed as short-term rentals. That means that almost 10,000 homes are NOT available for people planning to live full time in SF. With consistently high demand, a dwindling supply puts pressure on the market and forces prices up even further.
  3. The regulation of the housing market in San Francisco is currently out of control. Only about 1 in 10 hosts are compliant with these regulations, yet online marketplace platforms are able to make a profit from advertising these properties.
  4. The current situation is tough on property owners. Take, for example, a property owner who is looking to rent out his home that includes an in-law unit for a year. He is willing to give his tenants a good price because he has completed a background check on them and trusts that they will take care of the property. However, there is nothing stopping those tenants from renting out the in-law apartment (or rooms within the home) once they have stayed for 60 days.

4 Reasons to Vote No on Prop F:

  1. The first argument is one that Airbnb has used in its aggressive advertisements against Prop F: “it encourages neighbors to spy on each other”. Because “interested parties” include people who live within 100 feet of the property, neighbors have the ability to sue people who are not compliant with Prop F. Airbnb thinks this could ruin communities.
  2. People who rent their homes - whether it’s every weekend or once a year - have to provide quarterly reports to the City Planning Department on the status of their residences. People will have to provide information about where they’ve stayed and for how long. This can be an overly tedious task for individuals renting a couple of times each year.
  3. People can no-longer rent out in-law units to supplement their income (and keep up with the high rent prices in San Francisco).
  4. (Another Airbnb argument): The latest regulations went into effect on May 21, 2015 - these laws need some time to have a chance to work!

Sources:

If you’re looking for housing in one of the largest cities in the US, plan on investing a good amount of time in finding a spot that’s right for you. After finding that dream unit, you might come to learn that the landlord only takes cash, wants an 18 month lease, first/last month’s rent at signing, and Fido will have to find a new home for the duration.

The fact is, it’s difficult and expensive for a landlord to market their properties and to move tenants in and out, and they face vacancy costs when tenants move out of their housing. However, it’s likely that because people are willing to pay thousands of dollars every year in a lease, the downturn in what we consider the most consumer-unfriendly transaction category today, may be a slow process.

At HomeSuite, we’re committed to offering an experience that is like no other. We have a simple process that gives the user total control and complete confidence. In four quick steps, the user will not only find their new home away from home, but they will be able to move in! All you will need to do is inquire on any unit of your choosing (remember, all properties have been vetted and confirmed available!), connect with your personal assistant, pay your deposit and move it! It’s as simple as that, and now HomeSuite has taken it one step further. We understand how difficult it can be to get the funds together for a large deposit, especially when that deposit is supposed to be for first and last month’s rent. So we have changed the way a deposit is viewed and now all you have to pay is a $500 holding deposit to reserve your property. No if’s, and’s, or but’s.

By being flexible, offering well-vetted properties and landlords, HomeSuite is creating a new category of housing – On Demand housing. We’re meeting the market where it wants to be with housing options by taking the pain out of the process for our renters.

Say you are a recent college grad moving to San Francisco. It’s really hard to know what neighborhood you want to live in – now you don’t have to choose. You can sign up for a month-month lease in any neighborhood. If you don’t like it, you can always try somewhere new! We like to call it the HomeSuite Sampler. Start out living in Nob Hill and if it’s just not for you, we can help you move as soon as you would like, to say… SOMA. If you fall in love with SOMA, you can stay there as long as you want. If not, we’ll help you find a more suitable spot. Maybe you’ll try life in the Mission.

Imagine a day where in any city in the world, you can show up with a suitcase and move into an affordable, fully furnished home. If your plans change, you can move on to the next place with no hassle and no expense. Best of all, the process of finding and booking these homes is convenient, quality-focused, and comes with personal care. Join the housing revolution! Let HomeSuite find your home sweet home.

Win 3 months of free summer housing!

As an online marketplace for monthly furnished rental housing, HomeSuite deals with a wide variety of customers from all walks of life. We’ve come across customers in many different scenarios who all have two things in common: they have busy schedules and they need short-term furnished housing.

Our customers range from people visiting family members to people traveling for work, from families renovating their homes to young professionals making the move to the big city, and from traveling nurses to summer interns. We want to take some time to focus on that last category of people.

Everyone’s been there. A young student entering the working world for the first time. The all-important, ever so daunting “summer internship” - the gateway to the real world and - beyond it - eternal success. Students across the country are focused on landing internships at companies of all different sizes across a variety of industries. They hope that they can do enough right to get that full-time offer after a summer of invaluable real-world experience.

Potential summer interns have so much on their plate already - whether they are learning new skills that they’ll need on the job, keeping their studies in order before leaving school for the summer, or figuring out ways to impress the new boss, they have plenty on their mind. Here at HomeSuite, we salute these interns for going above and beyond in their efforts, and we want to help them out!

Finding short-term housing is yet another difficult part of the internship process, but it doesn’t have to be that way! Instead of finding a random apartment to sublet or a friend’s couch to crash on, interns can use HomeSuite to find the perfect furnished rental for the duration of their internship. No need to spend countless hours sifting through Craigslist or dealing with shady brokers; with HomeSuite, they can search by number of bedrooms, price, and neighborhood, and find the perfect place in minutes. HomeSuite takes care of all of the leasing paperwork and allows them to book directly online. Their new place will be ready to go upon arrival, as all HomeSuite properties come fully furnished.

Now for the best part…HomeSuite is committed to providing one intern with the ultimate housing experience for their internship in the summer of 2016. The recipient of the 2016 HomeSuite Summer Scholarship will receive three months of FREE housing in the neighborhood of their choice.*

To enter, you must post a Facebook status update that includes:

  1. A link to this blog post
  2. An @HomeSuite tag - check us out on HomeSuite’s Facebook page
  3. And finally, a brief story about your worst housing experience (maximum 250 words) → the funnier the better, we love details!

Send a screenshot of your post to lily@yourhomesuite.com to officially enter the contest. The best entries will be aggregated on our blog and the winner will be selected at the end of April 2016. Extra bonus points for the posts with the best stories, as well as those receiving the most likes/shares by the end of April 2016 (your post must stay live for the duration of the contest) - start sharing your experiences now!

We wish the best of luck to all the prospective interns out there! Happy Housing!

#HomeSuiteSummerScholarship2016

We will be providing updates to the contest on both the HomeSuite Blog and Facebook Page.

*Subject to availability. Terms & Conditions apply.