San Francisco startup HomeShare steals thousands from residents and leaves them homeless

Growing up in rural Pennsylvania, I remember as a little girl running circles around the swing set dreaming of all the things I wanted to set out in the world and accomplish.

We had no stores, we had no stoplight, no movie theater or cafes. But we had something so much bigger — we had imagination and creativity. We had community. I always had a sibling or neighbor to play with who remain my life-long friends today.

Above all else, we also had values. We didn’t have much money. But my mom always told me, “As long as you have family you are rich.” This always stuck with me and these values stayed with me as I grew up and set out to embark on my career as an actor and writer.

Fast-forward to my life today in San Francisco and I have seen the worst of the worst when it comes to values, ethics, greed, fraud — and the most difficult of all, housing.

After returning home from doing a 2-month traveling theater tour, I found out I no longer have a home. Thanks to a failed startup called HomeShare and their unethical CEO, Jefferey Pang, I will be losing my place to live and the life here I worked so hard to build over the last year.

Like many people who grow up in small towns, I dreamed of moving to a big city to discover a better life. My passion in the arts brought me to the west-coast where I spend my days writing for companies and acting.

With one of my jobs, I tour to schools to bring the performing arts to children who otherwise wouldn’t have access to the arts. From foster kids to children in rural areas without funding, I pour my heart into making these kids laugh, smile, and dream of a better future. The future that I once wanted for myself.

So how did I end up in this situation?

It all started last year when my sublet in San Francisco was coming up. I had just accepted a new writing contract with a major corporation and needed to find stable housing in the city. After moving three times in six months, I was relieved to stumble across HomeShare, a startup promising roommate matching services that would place us in a year lease in an apartment building. It turns out luxury buildings are where they had space, so that’s where we ended up.

The process was seamless, and they set me up with two roommates in a brand-new building downtown, central to my office. It also allowed me to save money commuting and included my gym and everything onsite. Because I had stable housing, when an offer came along to do a touring theater show, I accepted.

Before I left on tour, I inquired with HomeShare about renewing my lease. They told me in writing that they’d reach out in April, two months before it was up, to renew it.

While I was away, I get a very shady email saying that HomeShare was no longer accepting billing payments. We paid our rent directly to the company, but from what I’ve gathered this wasn’t even legal and they didn’t have the right legal permits to do this. It was also rumored that they took rent from people and paid off their investors, instead of paying it to the rental companies.

Oh, but don’t worry. It gets better.

Grab your popcorn because this is about to get more interesting than Netflix.

So, I email HomeShare asking how I can renew my lease. They tell me I can renew it directly through the building. Okay cool. Simple enough, right?

I go to have a meeting with my leasing office. I casually pop in,

“Hey, I am inquiring about renewing my lease.”

They pull up my account and tell me that there’s a “Do Not Renew” on my account.

WHAT.

It turns out while I was away, one of my roommates had so many violations that we got several eviction notices. She hid all of these from us. We had no idea.

HomeShare left us in the dark about these violations. According to our agreement, they were supposed to manage roommate issues and move problematic roommates out of our unit.

So, they are presenting us with a 60-day notice and will not renew our lease.

What did my roommate do that was so bad that got us kicked out, you ask? Well, I’ll post a part of the violation letter below and leave it up to your imagination. You can fill in the blanks as to what happened in the movie theater…

The violations didn’t stop. This girl had many violations. Also, when I came home, she had moved her boyfriend in. We had to have leasing kick him out.

After several meetings and letters, management told us they could not renew our lease. We lost our apartment.

That same day, HomeShare sent us an email saying they went out of business and were keeping deposits, totaling in the thousands, from us. Last time I checked, that’s called fraud. But okay, Jefferey Pang.

The stress hit me that I would have no place to live. Can I do my summer theater contract? What do I tell my clients? Can I afford to move?

These are all big life questions.

It doesn’t just stop with me. Everyday, my friends are presented with eviction notices from our apartment. This makes me question why I would even live in a place like this.

Sure, I could choose to fight this more. I could get a lawyer and work with the tenant’s union. But after weeks of meetings and stress, I decided that I don’t want to live in such a corrupt city that forces out artists. I don’t want to live in a place with unethical people like Jefferey Pang, running around with their fake businesses putting people on the streets.

For me, it all comes down to values. Values, that CEOs like Jefferey Pang lack.

Not only was I affected, but also the hundreds of residents they had in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York.

In circumstances like this, I always tell myself that I can move on and live a happy life. An apartment is replaceable. But these scammers, con-artists, and unethical property management companies have to live with themselves and the damage they cause to people’s lives.

In 60 days, I will sell all of my things and leave the city. I will continue to do my theater and work with kids and help inspire people. I’ll write for my clients and keep believing in people and lifting them up. I’ll keep doing the right thing and focusing on putting good into the world.

I choose my art. I choose humanity. I choose people over profit.

Goodbye San Francisco. You don’t deserve me.