The Grand Southern Hotel has some of the worst conditions out of all of the SRO (Single Room Occupancy) hotels in the Mission district. The hotel is home to many immigrant families with children. Tenants say they have been dealing with constant harassment by manager Luis Rivera and landlord Musa Salem and his family.

Working alongside the Mission SRO Collaborative (MSROC) we invited Supervisor David Campos to visit the hotel with former SF Supervisor and current director of Housing, Opportunity, Partnerships & Engagement (HOPE) Bevan Dufty. “They saw firsthand how the manager was drunk on the job and the horrible conditions of the hotel. They went door to door and heard the concerns of the tenants,” says Sanyika Bryant, CJJC Tenant Rights Organizer.

A few weeks ago Supervisor Campos called a meeting with the tenants, landlord and manager. The manager agreed to all but one of the procedural and repair demands of the tenants, thanks to our collective organizing and the pressure of Supervisor Campos — who took a hard stand against the landlord and the manager.  

Here is all that we won:
•    An end to the collection of late fees (as these aren’t in any of the tenants’ leases)
•    A written complaint process
•    Standardized receipts
•    Repairs to the carpets in several of the rooms
•    The removal of signs that make children feel unwelcomed in the building
•    One family got a significant rent reduction because the landlord had given them a higher rent based off of the size of their family, but their room was the same size as other rooms
•    Repairs to the water heating system
•    Monthly pest control

The fight isn’t over and we’re going to be monitoring the implementation of the new policies, but we just wanted to let you know the good news.