Assessor Joaquín Torres Urges Governor Newsom to Sign AB 1466 to Erase Racist Covenants

September  22, 2021

The Honorable Gavin Newsom

Governor of California

State Capitol, 1st Floor Sacramento, CA 95814

sent via email to leg.unit@gov.ca.gov

RE: AB 1466 (Kevin McCarty) -  Request for  Signature

Dear Governor Newsom,

On behalf of the San Francisco Office of the Assessor-Recorder, I respectfully urge you to sign AB 1466, a bill that establishes a system to erase racially restrictive covenants from home deeds and address systemic racism.

During the twentieth century, discriminatory covenants were a pervasive part of real estate transactions, interwoven into property deeds to keep people who were not white from occupying land and buying property. This system of racial segregation by the real estate industry, financial institutions, homeowners' associations, and local government created poverty-free affluent white spaces across the state. The system promoted the idea that for a neighborhood to be stable, healthy, and valuable it had to be homogenous. Along with other exclusionary practices, racist covenants led minorities to be segregated to less desirable, resource-poor neighborhoods, and deprived families of wealth accumulated by white homeowners through appreciating home values.

Racist covenants were a tool to decide who was allowed into a neighborhood, who could get financing, and who could get insured.

No one knows how many neighborhoods in San Francisco have racial covenants attached to them because the language is buried deep in recorded documents. AB 1466 would enable County Recorders across our state to help discover and renounce racist language. It would encourage conversations and acknowledgement of how these covenants connected to public and private institutions that created inequitable spaces and denied opportunity that disproportionately affected Black Americans. San Franciscans are capable of and want to have discussions about race and take action to build stronger communities. Identifying these restrictions in our city will inform new investments directed at delivering justice to impacted neighborhoods. We know there is more work to do to bring racial justice to everyone and understanding the extent of and removing racist vestiges is a critical part of achieving that potential.

The San Francisco Office of the Assessor-Recorder is committed to these efforts and will devote resources to implement AB 1466. For the reasons outlined, I urge you to support AB 1466 and sign the bill into law. Thank you for your consideration and leadership.

Sincerely,

Joaquín Torres
Assessor-Recorder

CC: Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, Assemblymember David Chiu