Jones will be leaving Castro neighborhood home after all

ebar.com:

Longtime gay activist Cleve Jones will be vacating his Castro neighborhood home after all, bringing an end to a housing saga that made international headlines.Jones confirmed the news in a statement to the Bay Area Reporter April 12."This struggle has already impacted my medical condition and distracted me from work that is important to me and my community," Jones, a longtime HIV survivor, stated. "My physician, closest friends, and family have urged me in the strongest terms to consider that a victory at the Rent Board would only win me the right to remain in an apartment where I no longer feel safe, further jeopardizing my health."The B.A.R.

first reported last month that Jones was leaving the Castro due to a tense landlord dispute he was having with Lily Li Pao Kue, the new owner of the building where he's been renting a rent-controlled unit.

Jones has lived in the apartment for about a dozen years but has been involved in the neighborhood since its inception as an LGBTQ mecca.Kue alleged Jones bringing Brenden Chadwick to live with him was against the lease. (Subsequently, Kue claimed Chadwick lived alone while Jones lived in Guerneville, and Chadwick, through Jones, has declined to comment.) Jones said that doesn't matter due to San Francisco rent laws.

Kue then alleged Jones' primary residence is in Guerneville, where he bought what he describes as a "very small cottage, under 1,000 square feet" several years ago after the publication of his 2016 memoir "When We Rise." Utilizing the Costa Hawkins law, she raised Jones' rent to $5,200 a month from $2,393.