Why this exists
I moved into an apartment and on day one the elevator was broken and there were pests in the unit. Nobody told me that San Francisco's Department of Building Inspection has a public complaint history for every address in the city, and that I could have looked it up before I signed.
That data has existed on DataSF since 2016. Almost nobody knows. The official site is hard to read, makes you pick the right dataset before you can search, and doesn't pull the picture together. Complaints, formal notices, Fire records, permits, and 311 each sit in different places, none of them designed for someone standing in a kitchen, deciding in a few seconds whether to sign a lease.
So I built Housing Report Card. If I'd had this, I would have searched every address I considered. That's the whole goal: help as many people as possible make a more informed decision before they sign a lease.
Every report ends with a checklist of questions to ask the landlord, things to check on your tour, and items to get in writing, all tailored to that building's actual record. The point isn't just to show you the data; it's to give you the questions the data should make you ask.
Where I'm from
I grew up in low-income housing in the Tenderloin and I still live here. I've dealt with poorly maintained and negligent landlords my whole life. The feeling of moving in and finding out, after the fact, that the building has a long history of unresolved issues is one I have personal experience with, and one I don't think anyone should have to repeat just because the public data isn't where renters are looking.
What I believe
- Public data should be usable. Every record on this site is already public. The work is presentation, not access.
- Renters first. Every product decision starts with "does this help someone make a better moving decision?" Landlords and city staff are not the audience.
- No surveillance. I'm against mass surveillance and I'm not going to build it. No tracking cookies, no advertising pixels, no data selling. The site keeps you signed in using your browser's localStorage and that's it. Tenants can also report undisclosed in-unit smart devices here; that feature exists because surveillance shouldn't be hidden in your own home.
- Non-official, on purpose. The A to F score is product logic on top of public records, not a city-issued risk rating. It's a starting point for a conversation, not a verdict.
How the site works
You type an address. The site pulls live records from San Francisco's public datasets: DBI complaints and notices of violation, Fire violations and inspections, building permits, and housing-related 311. It joins them by parcel where possible, and presents a single readable report per address. The site is funded by reader donations and by paid address-watch subscriptions, which is what keeps the search itself free for anyone who just wants to look an address up.
Who runs it
This service is run by one person, Mhytee Luhring. If you have feedback, found a bug, or a building you want to ask about, email support@housinggrade.com.
Guides
Read the renter guides: how to check an SF address before signing, file a housing complaint, read building permits, what a Notice of Violation means, and the rise of landlord surveillance.