A young family in San Francisco‘s Richmond District is facing heartbreak and potential displacement after receiving a shocking notice of a nearly 90% rent increase.
This astronomical rent bump means their monthly payment will go from $3,695 to a whopping $7,000 starting in September 2026.
“I could cry right now. I’ve been doing a lot of crying,” Ashley Waldman told NBC Bay Area of the rent increase. “This is our home, so it’s been really difficult.”
The 10-condo building where the Waldmans live in San Francisco’s Richmond District is facing massive rent hikes. Google Maps
Ashley Waldman and her husband Zachary, both aged in their early 30s, moved into their two-bedroom, two-bath, top-floor condo in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic and started a family there. Their 19-month-old son Henry has grown up in that condo and attends nearby subsidized daycare.
The family described the home as a safe, comfortable place they hoped to stay in long-term.
When they first moved in, the original rent on the home was $3,500, where it stayed until 2025 before being bumped up to a still-digestible monthly amount.
The family-of-three can no longer afford to live in their condo, after the rent was increased 90%.
Last Friday, the tenants found a notice taped to their door informing them of the massive increase following the building’s recent change in ownership at the end of May. The new owners claim the single-family property is exempt from certain San Francisco and state tenant protections, allowing for the steep hike.
“They’re kicking us out,” Zach Waldman told the San Francisco Standard. “Paying this is not an option. We can’t afford that. Not even close.”
The Waldmans’ situation is emblematic of the brutal economic reality many San Francisco renters face in a city with chronic housing shortages and sky-high market rents.
While San Francisco has rent control laws that typically limit annual increases (currently capped at 1.6% for covered units, according to the San Francisco Rent Control Board), certain properties — especially those that recently changed ownership or fall under specific exemptions — can see much larger jumps.
Since the Waldmans moved into their Richmond District apartment in 2021 — around two years after California’s statewide rent control law took effect on January 1, 2020 — they say they were never properly informed that the unit was exempt from the law’s tenant protections.
Lifelong San Franciscan Ashley Waldman now faces the painful decision of whether her family can afford to stay put. Facebook
Advocates say this case exposes loopholes that allow new landlords to dramatically raise rents, effectively forcing long-term tenants out so units can be reset to full market rates.
“It’s horrendous, it’s awful,” Ora Prochovnick, the director of litigation and policy at the Eviction Defense Collaborative, told The Standard. “It’s an extreme rent increase.
“What’s fair and what’s legal don’t necessarily overlap,” Prochovnick added.
The Waldmans, who are lifelong San Franciscans, now face the painful decision of whether they can afford to stay in the city they love or join the growing number of families priced out of the Bay Area.
“We’re basically stuck,” Zack Waldman told The Standard. “I don’t really know what our options are.”
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