Meet the Man Behind Proposition F
I saw the sign.
That is why I had to find Doug Engmann, a San Francisco businessman, landlord and longtime activist.
He’s the guy who authored Proposition F.
Prop F seeks to regulate short-term rentals in San Francisco, while holding host platforms such as Airbnb, FlipKey and VRBO accountable to local law. The law requires hosts to register with the city. Prop F would impose a 75-day annual limit on short-term rentals and it would require tenants to have their landlord’s approval before advertising a property.
“There’s been no other vote of the people on this business model anywhere in the world.”
You might’ve seen a TV ad, heard a radio spot or read a social media post about Prop F. It’s the measure Airbnb is spending millions to defeat, fighting to keep others like Engmann from telling it how to run its billion dollar business.
I saw the sign while walking in Noe Valley. I noticed a poster bowed in a first-floor window. A big, yellow F stood on the left length. The “F” was bigger than the “YES” at the bottom. The poster had a message, “FIX the Airbnb MESS.”
I like to walk as much as I can in San Francisco, and I started seeing “F’s” in more and more windows, like the red F — No on Prop F uses the color — and yellow F were seasonal decorations. A visitor, staying in an Airbnb in one of the city’s more than 25 neighborhoods, couldn’t be blamed if they thought the city was currently an F’d up place to be.
This is the first public referendum on Airbnb. Make no mistake, the vote will affect its business model and how residents and tourists interact with San Francisco. The Future — of course, with a capital F — is at stake.
“There’s been no other vote of the people on this business model anywhere in the world,” Engmann, who has been active in San Francisco politics and neighborhood affairs for four decades, says.
Airbnb’s home is San Francisco, a city that is in the clutches of a housing crisis, exascerbated by rising rents and Ellis Act evictions. Yes is sponsored by Share Better SF, a group Engmann founded with Calvin Welch, a longtime housing activist and Dale Carlson, a public relations professional. With Airbnb, Share Better SF sees a company that offers financial incentive to remove long-term housing from existing stock and converting it into a tourist rental.
Engmann, the former chairman of Pacific Stock Exchange, sees Prop F as a solution: it allows for hosting tourists while preventing a full-scale conversion of permanent housing to permanent hotel rooms.
Here are the four stump points:
Do you agree? Yes? The San Francisco Chronicle emphatically said No in an Oct. 2 editorial.
“…there is an overriding issue that compels a no vote: The very fact that it’s on the ballot and could not be altered or even voided without another public vote. This is exactly the wrong way to impose regulation on a fast-evolving practice that, for all its side effects, has been a plus for both the tourism industry and some residents who need the income to make ends meet.”
The editorial says “enforcement mechanisms,” such as neighbors or groups suing hosts, “opens the potential for mischief and frivolous lawsuits by antagonistic neighbors.” While writing Prop F is not the answer, the Chronicle acknowledged Prop F is a response to weak law.
It’s tradition in San Francisco and California that citizens will write their own laws. Engmann had hoped legislation would prevent the fight from reaching the ballot.
“It became clear that Airbnb had so much clout at City Hall that they were able to water down all of the requirements for registration,” he says.
Share Better SF gathered signatures after realizing the legislative process was bought, Engmann says.
“It’s not the best way to legislate, but it’s the only way the citizens can grab control,” he continues. “And that’s what we’ve done. Our controls are not unreasonable.”
FIGHTING HISTORY
San Francisco’s charming neighborhoods are built on distinct vibes. Take Noe Valley, for example. It’s quiet, with more cafes and boutiques than bars. There are no high rises, which means there are fewer steps for parents with young children to climb. The buildings are older and colorful, essential to the neighborhood’s blooming character.
Noe Valley is an attractive area to live and visit, a unique aesthetic Engmann has been fighting to preserve for decades.
In 1974, St. Mary’s Hospital planned to demolish existing housing on Stanyan and Fulton Streets for new medical offices. The northeast corner of Golden Gate Park is where Engmann’s parents lived and where he lived into adulthood.
“At that point in time, they had the power of eminent domain, and they were going to use the government power to take our home from us,” Engmann recalls of St. Mary’s.
He helped save the homes.
Since then, he’s served on the city’s board of permit appeals from 1977 to 1988 followed by a stint on the city’s planning commission from 1988 to 1992.
Engmann has watched how San Francisco changes during the tech booms. The first, he says, had impacted the small business space in the South of Market area. We’re in the midst of the second, and now tech employees want to work and live in San Francisco, creating even more shortage for real tenants.
Thirty years ago, tenants would get a roommate to generate income rather than renting to a tourist. The availability of rooms has declined because people don’t want to have roommates, and now there is a benefit to continue without, Engmann says.
That benefit is why Airbnb is valued at $25 billion dollars. Its service has created a new and efficient market that enables any San Franciscan with access to the Internet and a spare bed to earn upwards of $300 per a night from peer-rated travelers. Multiply that number by 365 and you can see why Airbnb has created a new Gold Rush — and abuse of the Ellis Act, a state law which says that landlords have the right to evict tenants in order to “go out of business”.
“This could all be solved if Airbnb followed local law,” Engmann says.
“We want to retain the incentive for someone to have a roommate, but still allow someone to earn a little extra money,” he continues.
Others have agreed. Republicans and democrats, as well as conservative and liberal neighborhood organizations, have given support to Prop F. Danny Glover and other celebrities have added their voices.
“It’s the broadest coalition in a long time, I think, in San Francisco politics, and really an extensive endorsement list,” Engmann says. “We have a really good, broad base, which is why we’re hopeful we can win this thing despite all the money they’re throwing at it.”
Engmann says he has met with Airbnb twice about what he believes is a negative impact on housing prices and availability.
“You can’t just say, ‘I have no responsibility’ or ‘That’s disruption,” Engmann says. “It’s not right.”
F THIS
The main argument against Prop F is that it is extreme and unnecessary, and it violates privacy rights. The four points:
At the foot of the primary No website, there is this reminder: “Paid for by SF For Everyone, No on Proposition F, Sponsored and Major Funding by Airbnb.”
Airbnb has spent at least $8 million to defeat Prop F. Share Better SF has spent $400,000.
Airbnb has been in an all out media campaign. Some of the messaging has been derided on social media, and the company recently apologized for what TechCrunch referred to as “tone deaf hotel tax ads”.
Consumer Watchdog addressed Engmann, Carlson and Welch, the founders of Share Better SF, in a letter condemning Prop F this summer. No has its own long list of endorsements.
At the core of No’s message is privacy.
“Prop F would provide a financial incentive to encourage neighbor to spy on neighbor and generate what will likely be thousands of lawsuits,” the No website says, underneath a video that backs up the point.
“It’s very difficult for the city staff of three to go out and investigate this, because basically you have to catch them in the act,” Engmann responds when asked about neighbor lawsuits. “The people who are most knowledgeable of what’s going on are the people who live next door. It’s clear you’re not going to get any kind of enforcement, so we give the citizens power to enforce when the city doesn’t act.”
San Francisco is an international city, a tourist destination, but what’s good for San Francisco may not be good for, say, Des Moines, Iowa.
“There should be some basic principles. You can’t have a technology company that operates with real-world impacts with an attitude that they don’t care whether those impacts break the law or not,” Engmann says.
“If there’s a law that requires registration, that should be as good as it is in Des Moines as it is in San Francisco as it is in Portland as it would be in Paris.”
Remember, the Future — with a capital F — is at stake.
“You can’t take housing out of the market and not have an impact,” Engmann says. “This is a huge issue in every city in the world. What we do here will set a certain standard as to what happens in the rest of the world.”
If Prop F fails, Engmann says he will continue to do “what is right for the city.”
“If we don’t win this year, we will continue to fight,” he says.
[Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared on ripple.news]
