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HOUSING - It’s only September, and corporate landlords have already shelled out tens of millions to kill Proposition 33 and silence AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) through Proposition 34. At this rate, Big Real Estate will likely shell out more than $100 million to try to stop the expansion of rent control in California and pass Prop 34, a highly controversial ballot measure that the Bay Area News Group Editorial Board describes as a “Revenge of the Landlords” initiative.
Proposition 33 is a November ballot measure that ends statewide rent control restrictions in California and allows cities to pass updated rent regulations so they can urgently address the housing affordability and homelessness crises. Studies have found that sky-high rents lead to higher mortality rates and increased homelessness.
It’s why a broad coalition of housing justice groups, labor unions, social justice organizations, and civic leaders, including the California Democratic Party, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, and labor and civil rights icon Dolores Huerta, strongly support Prop 33. AIDS Healthcare Foundation and Housing Is A Human Right sponsor the ballot measure.
Proposition 34 is a dangerous initiative that aims to silence AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s housing advocacy work. It’s sponsored by the California Apartment Association, the powerful lobbying group for corporate landlords, and funded by many of the largest corporate landlords in the country.
In addition to the Bay Area News Group’s opposition to Prop 34, the Bakersfield Californian, the Mercury News & East Bay Times Editorial Board, the Bay Area Reporter, and the San Francisco Chronicle have come out against the measure.
The San Francisco Chronicle calls Prop 34 “cheap political gamesmanship that doesn’t belong on the ballot.” The Bay Area News Group Editorial Board says Prop 34 is “an abusive use of the state’s initiative system to silence a political opponent.” And the Bay Area Reporter states, “We believe writing a state ballot proposition that affects a single agency sets a bad precedent. Some other groups could try the same tactics against other nonprofits if they don’t like what those agencies are doing.”
Corporate landlords are funding both No on Prop 33 and Yes on Prop 34. They use a shell game by contributing tens of millions to the California Apartment Association Issues Committee, and the California Apartment Association then distributes that money to No on Prop 33 and Yes on Prop 34.
Already, corporate landlords have spent tens of millions on political advertisements, pushing forward a massive misinformation campaign to trick and confuse California voters. In addition, the California Apartment Association Issues Committee has raised a whopping $58.7 million to fund No on Prop 33 and Yes on Prop 34.
Out of that $58.7 million, 21 corporate landlords have contributed $48.3 million – or 82 percent of the total amount raised by the California Apartment Association Issues Committee comes from only 21 corporate landlords. In other words, corporate landlords are overwhelmingly driving the No on 33 and Yes on 34 campaigns in California.
Out of those 21 corporate landlords, 11 are the largest corporate landlords in the United States, according to the National Multifamily Housing Council’s Top 50 apartment owners list. So the nation’s largest corporate landlords are aiming to kill Prop 33 and silence AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
In addition, the California Association of Realtors, another powerful lobbying group for the real estate industry, has raised $27 million to stop Proposition 33 through a political action committee called “Homeownership for Families – No on 33.”
By Election Day, Big Real Estate will undoubtedly spend a grand total of $100 million, if not more, to stop Prop 33 and pass Prop 34. Why? Because the real estate industry doesn’t want rent control to stop them from charging sky-high, unfair rents, which brings in billions in revenue every year.
It prompts the question that activists have been asking California voters: Which side are you on? Corporate landlords or hard-working tenants who are drowning under outrageous rents?
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(Patrick Range McDonald, author and journalist, Best Activism Journalism: Los Angeles Press Club, Journalist of the Year: Los Angeles Press Club, Public Service Award: Association of Alternative Newsmedia, advocacy journalist for Housing is a Human Right, and a contributor to CityWatch.)
