Housing shortage, soaring rental costs, and now a ban on pets. San Francisco's housing crisis is affecting not only low and middle wage renters but their dogs too.
Due to an influx of tech elite moving into the city over the recent years, rents have soared to sky high prices inevitably forcing low and middle income earners unable to shoulder rent, to move out. With San Francisco's shortage of housing supply, the competition has gotten tighter and the housing crisis worse.
In a report by Huffington Post, real estate listings site Zumper, reports the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco shot up to $3,410 last month, up 0.6 percent from December; making rent unaffordable even to long-time tenants.
Finding pet-friendly housing has become another rising problem for renters. Non-profit animal welfare group SF SPCA have observed an increase in owners resorting to abandoning their pets unable to find pet-friendly homes.
In a report by CNN Money, SF SPCA spokesperson Krista Maloney shares how housing issues have become a major reason why people leave their pets at the animal welfare center. After tracking the numbers, they found out that one in four people were not allowed to move in to their rented unit with a pet.
Research analysis by various property groups have shown that pet-friendly homes cost a lot more than those that don't allow pets. According to CNN, company HotPads says units that allow pets charge an average of 12% more, not including "pet rent" that may be charged on top. This kind of scenario makes it all the more impossible for low to middle income renters to consider a pet-friendly house. Instead, they resort to leaving their pets in welfare centers.
According to Mark Campana, president of Anchor Reality, in the CNN Money report, "Now with the market moving with great speed and with vacant units in high demand, an owner doesn't have the incentive to be pet-friendly. Competition for each apartment is so fierce that landlords can afford to be more selective about tenants." Anchor Realty has roughly 1,000 units in San Francisco all of which do not allow pets.Landlords have become very strategic in playing the market. A number of properties may allow pets, but they are still confident that they can find a tenant without one. Pacific Union Property Management president Michael Harrington shares, "We're definitely in what I would call a landlord's market."
