For most of San Francisco’s rent-controlled era, the identity of a landlord was a private fact. A tenant might know the name on the rent check, or the property manager who showed up with a clipboard. But the entity that actually owned the building — the LLC, the shell company, the real estate investment trust, the family trust — was often buried behind layers of registration paperwork. The Anti-Eviction Mapping Project (AEMP) spent a decade pulling those layers apart. What it found is not just a list of bad actors. It is a map of how ownership itself became the central mechanism of displacement.
What AEMP Actually Built
AEMP is not a single dataset. It is a collection of tools, oral histories, and visualizations assembled by researchers, tenants, and organizers. The most consequential for practitioners is Evictorbook, a web lookup tool covering San Francisco and Oakland. According to AEMP’s own description, Evictorbook “combines data on ownership, landlords, evictions, property, and corporations” and allows users to “search for an owner, address, corporation, or neighborhood.” The tool’s stated purpose is to help tenants and housing organizers “identify your landlord, understand their eviction history, and see all of the properties they own.”
That last function — seeing the portfolio — is where the project’s analytical power lies. A single eviction notice looks like an individual dispute. A portfolio of eviction notices across dozens of buildings looks like a business model.
AEMP’s own update notes that Evictorbook now allows users to “view the portfolios and eviction history of serial evictors across both San Francisco and Oakland.” The project identifies “over 499 businesses operating in concert with Veritas, 263 businesses with Mosser, and 237 with Wedgewood.” These are not small-time landlords. They are corporate networks operating through hundreds of registered entities, each one a separate LLC or business name. The number of businesses is not the number of owners. It is the number of legal shields.
Why the LLC Count Matters
When a landlord operates through 499 separate business entities, several things happen. First, liability is fragmented. A tenant who wins a habitability lawsuit against one LLC may find that the LLC holds no assets beyond the building itself. Second, eviction records are fragmented. A tenant searching for their landlord’s name may find nothing, because the building is owned by an LLC that shares no name with the property manager or the parent company. Third, political accountability is fragmented. When tenants try to identify who is behind a wave of evictions in their neighborhood, they are not looking for a person. They are looking for a pattern across corporate registrations.
AEMP’s contribution is not that it discovered corporate landlords exist. It is that it made the pattern searchable. Before Evictorbook, a tenant organizer trying to connect a building on Mission Street to a building in the Tenderloin had to manually cross-reference assessor records, Secretary of State filings, and eviction notices. After Evictorbook, that connection is a query.
What the Data Does Not Tell You
The limits matter as much as the findings. Evictorbook is a lookup tool, not a causal analysis. It shows that an owner has eviction filings. It does not show why those filings happened, whether they were upheld, whether the tenant fought back, or whether the eviction was ultimately executed. A landlord with a high eviction filing count may be a serial evictor. A landlord with a high eviction filing count may also own buildings in neighborhoods where tenants are more likely to receive notices for non-payment because of rent burden, not because the landlord is unusually aggressive.
AEMP’s own framing acknowledges this. The tool is designed for tenants and organizers, not for academic causal inference. It is a starting point for investigation, not a verdict. Any organizer using it should treat the data as a map of where to look, not a map of what happened.
There is also the question of coverage. Evictorbook covers San Francisco and Oakland. It does not cover every Bay Area city. A landlord with a portfolio in San Francisco and Richmond may appear incomplete. A landlord with a portfolio in San Francisco and Phoenix is invisible. The tool is powerful precisely because it is bounded, but that boundary is a limitation.
The Legal Instruments Behind the Numbers
Eviction data does not exist in a vacuum. It is produced by specific legal instruments. In San Francisco, the most consequential are the Ellis Act, owner move-in evictions, and condo conversion rules. Each one creates a different kind of displacement, and each one leaves a different kind of record.
AEMP’s mapping work does not replace the legal analysis of these instruments. It complements it. When a map shows a cluster of Ellis Act filings in a particular neighborhood, the next question is not just who filed them, but which law made them possible and which loophole made them profitable. The map points to the building. The legal instrument explains the strategy.
This is where AEMP’s work intersects with tenant organizing. A map alone does not stop an eviction. But a map that shows a landlord’s portfolio across multiple buildings can help tenants recognize that they are not facing an individual landlord. They are facing a network. That recognition is the precondition for coordinated action.
What a Decade of Mapping Changed
The most durable outcome of AEMP’s work is not a single policy victory. It is a shift in how tenants and organizers understand the problem. Before AEMP, the dominant narrative of displacement in San Francisco was about rising rents and individual hardship. After AEMP, it is increasingly about ownership networks and coordinated strategies.
That shift has practical consequences. When tenants know that their landlord owns 40 other buildings, they can look for tenants in those buildings. When organizers know that a single parent company operates through 499 LLCs, they can target the parent company rather than chasing individual entities. When researchers know that eviction filings cluster around specific corporate networks, they can study those networks rather than treating each eviction as an isolated event.
None of this is automatic. A map does not organize tenants. A database does not pass legislation. But a map can make the invisible visible, and visibility is a precondition for accountability.
How to Use This Data as a Practitioner
If you are a tenant organizer, a legal services attorney, or a researcher, the practical steps are straightforward.
First, start with the address. Search Evictorbook for the building in question. Identify the owner entity. Do not assume the property manager is the owner. Do not assume the name on the lease is the name on the deed.
Second, search the owner. Once you have the owner entity, search for that entity across the database. How many other buildings does it own? How many eviction filings are associated with those buildings? Is the owner part of a larger network?
Third, cross-reference with public records. Evictorbook is a starting point. The San Francisco Assessor-Recorder’s Office maintains property ownership records. The California Secretary of State maintains business entity filings. The San Francisco Rent Board maintains eviction notices and annual reports. Each source has different coverage and different limitations. Use them together.
Fourth, look for patterns, not outliers. A single eviction filing may be a dispute. A pattern of filings across multiple buildings owned by the same entity is a strategy. The pattern is the story.
Fifth, document what you find. AEMP’s work is public. If you find a connection that is not already mapped, document it. The map is only as good as the data behind it.
What Remains Unmapped
AEMP’s decade of work has made corporate ownership visible in San Francisco and Oakland. It has not made it visible everywhere. The tools do not cover every city. The data does not capture every eviction. The legal instruments vary by jurisdiction. The corporate structures evolve.
There is also the question of what happens after the map. A tenant who discovers that their landlord owns 40 buildings still has to fight the eviction. An organizer who identifies a corporate network still has to build a campaign. A researcher who documents a pattern still has to convince policymakers to act. The map is a tool, not a solution.
But it is a tool that did not exist a decade ago. And in a housing market where ownership is deliberately obscured, the act of mapping is itself a form of accountability. The landlord who operates through 499 LLCs depends on tenants not knowing who they are. AEMP’s work makes that ignorance harder to maintain.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project?
AEMP is a research and data project that documents evictions and displacement in the San Francisco Bay Area. Its most prominent tool is Evictorbook, a web lookup tool for tenants and organizers.
What does Evictorbook cover?
According to AEMP, Evictorbook covers San Francisco and Oakland. It combines data on ownership, landlords, evictions, property, and corporations.
Can I use Evictorbook to find out who owns my building?
Yes. The tool allows users to search by address, owner, corporation, or neighborhood. It is designed to help tenants identify their landlord and see their eviction history.
Does a high eviction filing count mean my landlord is a serial evictor?
Not necessarily. A high count may reflect aggressive eviction practices, or it may reflect building conditions, tenant income levels, or neighborhood dynamics. The data is a starting point for investigation, not a conclusion.
What legal instruments show up most often in eviction data?
In San Francisco, the Ellis Act, owner move-in evictions, and condo conversion rules are among the most consequential. Each creates a different kind of displacement and a different kind of record.
Where can I find primary source data on evictions in San Francisco?
The San Francisco Rent Board publishes eviction notices and annual reports. The San Francisco Assessor-Recorder’s Office maintains property ownership records. The California Secretary of State maintains business entity filings. These sources can be used alongside Evictorbook.
What are the limits of AEMP’s data?
Evictorbook covers San Francisco and Oakland, not every Bay Area city. It shows eviction filings, not outcomes. It identifies ownership networks, not motivations. It is a map of where to look, not a map of what happened.
