Too little, too late, as San Francisco attempts to clean up the regulatory mess left in the wake of the Santos & Curran fraud scheme? 

Remember when San Francisco’s Department of Building Inspection (DBI) was mired in scandal? Rodrigo Santos, a permit expediter, was in cahoots with a senior building inspector, Bernard “Bernie” Curran. The duo pleaded guilty of colluding with corrupt developers and profiting from turning a blind eye to unpermitted or unsafe construction. This includes excavations that undermined the foundations of neighboring homes and concealed changes beyond approved plans.

While it has been reported that some property owners participated in the fraud scheme, most were completely unaware of the violations surrounding their property after the work had already been carried out and approved.

Bringing their properties up to code has proven to be a costly endeavor, be it replacing a driveway that doesn’t drain properly or a front door that lacks the right support beams, revamping a staircase, and a myriad of other violations that were overlooked or not remedied properly.

San Francisco now says they are sorry for the inconvenience.

The Board of Supervisors got together to approve an amnesty program aimed at providing financial relief to more than 100 property owners who were victims of the bribery scheme. This number is minuscule when looking at the actual number of properties that were subject to DBI’s past corruption.

Chart by Kelly Waldron. Source: The Department of Building and Inspection.

What San Francisco’s amnesty program entails for property owners who have unresolved Notices of Violations after they encountered these fraudsters:

• Waives the fines that the city would typically impose for such violations.

• Waives the fees for the permits that owners would need to obtain in order to carry out renovation work to bring their properties up to code.

• For unwitting owners who already paid these costs, the city will offer a refund.

• Some minor violations, such as those related to aesthetic or livability standards, will remain in effect.

• Meanwhile, more serious code violations that cause safety hazards or compromise the structural integrity of buildings must be fixed at the owners’ expense.

• Owners of properties identified in DBI’s audit will be notified of the amnesty program and have five years to take advantage of the benefits.

It’s been said that something is better than nothing, but many property owners are left out and now have to spend thousands of dollars in the aftermath of the manipulation of the city’s building permit system.

We trust that deception, insider knowledge, and forged documents will never rear their ugly head again at any agency found to have a “corrosive culture” of cronyism and weak oversight, enabling corruption at multiple levels.