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A San Francisco lawyer says a landlord has the right to only allow “MAGA voters and Israel supporters” to attend an open house.
“From the tenant perspective, there isn’t a violation here of California or federal law because political orientation is not a protected class,” Joseph Tobener, a partner at Tobener Ravenscroft and tenant rights lawyer, told Fox News Digital on Thursday.
“So things that it might touch upon that are protected class would be ethnicity, source of income, religion,” he added. “So there’s some things that skirts around, but the words were such that they are all political orientation, which isn’t a protected class and not a violation of the Fair Employment and Housing Act in California. Now, with that said, I think what rubs people the wrong way is that we have a new housing shortage in San Francisco because of the AI boom.”
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The San Francisco Standard reported Tuesday that Alexander Baran, 48, owns a two-bedroom apartment in Sunnyside and had listed it on Zillow, which has since been taken down.
The listing, which went up Aug. 5 and was removed on Sunday, allegedly said that “Only MAGA voters and Israel supporters are invited” to the open house.
When the San Francisco Standard went to visit Baran to speak to him about the listing, he allegedly said, “Get the f— away from here. Don’t make me repeat myself.”
Tobener, the tenant rights lawyer, said that the City by the Bay is “about a month into a major housing crisis where people are lining up 20 deep for a unit to try and get one unit or showing up and the unit’s already rented.”
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The concern that people have, he said, is landlords rejecting people that need housing due to their political views.
“Landlords have a lot of power right now. And so I think that’s the concern from the tenant perspective,” Tobener said. “Everybody should get a fair shake regardless of their political orientation. Everyone should be able to get access to housing. Housing is a fundamental right. Everyone needs housing. Everyone needs a roof over their heads. And so are we gonna start down this road where only certain people from certain political leanings can get access to certain housing.”
To change the law and make political affiliation a protected class, Tobener said that the California state legislature would have to add political affiliations to the Fair Employment and Housing Act as a protected category.
That move, he said, would certainly be challenged and likely end up in the Supreme Court.
“I’ve been doing tenant rights law for 30 years and this will be the third tech boom in San Francisco, and it’s a boom and bust city. It always has been since the Gold Rush and what we have right now is this major AI boom with a lot of people wanting to come work here,” Tobener said.
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According to the Zumper National Rent Report, “San Francisco led the nation in annual rent growth, with one-bedroom rent up 13.3% and two-bedrooms surging 16.3%.”
“First it was the dot-com boom, then it was a social media boom, and now it’s the AI boom, and you’re getting this circumstance where landlords have a lot of power,” Tobener added. “There are a lot of people clamoring for one unit and, you know, we want to make sure that landlords don’t, you know, step across the line. And housing is accessible to everyone regardless of, you know, what they think about the political climate.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Baran for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
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