Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bay Area Reporter - June 1, 2001
David Fraser
In January he returned to San Francisco after a 19-hour flight from South America. His new landlord greeted him with the news that he was going to get an Ellis Act eviction from his Noe Valley apartment.
The state Ellis Act allows landlords to evict tenants but they cannot rent the property for 10 years.
"I'm on disability with AIDS, so I don't know what the outcome is going to be," Hobi told the Bay Area Reporter. "As a person on disability, I have a one-year waiver [on moving]. I'm working with a lawyer via the AIDS Legal Referral Panel."
He is scheduled to be evicted on May 3, 2002.
Hobi, 55, shared his story last week at a Board of Supervisors hearing before a panel considering two proposals to limit conversions of rental units to tenancies-in-common.
The panel voted to send Supervisor Jake McGoldrick's ordinance to the full board for a vote [see story above]. Hobi was one of many residents who offered testimony at the May 24 hearing; many of the speakers said they supported the tenants' side.
Opponents say the city has no business intruding into ownership and argue that TIC conversions should not be regulated.
"I've been here five years," Hobi said. "My old landlady died; I helped care for her and her heirs wanted to accommodate my desire to stay in the unit.
'No picnic'
"As soon as I met the new landlord, he informed me he wanted to evict me. Since then, there's been tremendous stress. Living with AIDS is not a picnic; I've got allergic reactions all over and people all around me are dying.
"Eviction is going to have an impact on the people I'm sending medicines to. I don't know if I can continue the level of support I've been giving these people."
Hobi, who is also a Survive AIDS activist, also told the B.A.R.: "I just wonder about the whole ethics of taking someone on a disability with a terminal illness, and saying, 'You're outta here.' This happened after they bought the building knowing I was living there, with full disclosure à it's extremely unethical. They got a good price because the heirs sold below market price" to help him.
His apartment is one of two in the Noe Valley building.
Hobi is the engine of his organization, Positive Humanists and Friends. It collects AIDS medicines donated by individuals, doctors, and others. Hobi said the medicines keep about 70 people alive who would likely otherwise die; the drugs go to AIDS service organizations in Kenya, Cuba, Chile, and Mexico.
In Latin America, most recipients are gay men, while in Kenya it's a mixed group.
"In 1997 someone asked if I could get some medications, and I said yes. That started the ball rolling," Hobi said.
"I don't know how long I have to live," he added. "I keep going because I still have things to do."
Medicine drop-off points in the Bay Area include the Immune Enhancement Project, the Pacific Center in Berkeley, and in Sonoma County at Food for Thought. For information on Positive Humanists and Friends, contact Homer Hobi at (415) 285-0606, or at hobi@toast.net. The Web site is http://members.aol.com/aidsrx/
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