There is a revenge initiative on the ballot in California this November, placed by greedy corporate landlords, called Proposition 34. It would strip AIDS Healthcare Foundation of its nonprofit status and the licenses for its 20 clinics.
AHF is the largest AIDS organization in California and the world, serving 47 countries (including operations in 17 U.S. states plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico) with two million patients in care. AHF is headquartered in Los Angeles and has led the battle against AIDS in California since its founding in 1987.
Seven years ago, AHF entered the low-income housing arena by buying old hotels and rehabbing them. Motivated by many of our patients becoming homeless and the same sense of moral outrage that we had over AIDS patients dying in the hallways of the county hospital in the 80s, we rapidly became the most powerful tenants’ rights organization in the country.
Our efforts included sponsoring two previous ballot initiatives to expand rent control. Rent control will appear on the ballot again this November as Proposition 33.
Proposition 34, the anti-AHF initiative formerly called “Protect Patients Now,” is sponsored by the California Apartment Association, a landlord organization dominated by billionaires. They have no inherent interest in healthcare. Their only interest is silencing their main opposition — AHF.
CAA’s transparent fig leaf cannot cover up the fact that AHF is the target. A simple Google search will show CAA has said this initiative is part of a two-pronged effort to fight rent control by forcing AHF to fight on two fronts, preventing the stripping of our nonprofit status and enacting rent control.
Cal Matters writes Prop. 34 “is squarely aimed at knee-capping the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which has been active in funding ballot measures (see Prop. 33).” KQEDsays, “The state lobby representing landlords gathered signatures to place this measure on the ballot to restrict the political spending of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.” The San Francisco Chronicle called Prop. 34 “cheap political gamesmanship that doesn’t belong on the ballot.”
The San Diego Tribune called it a “vengeful attempt funded by landlords” that “sets a terrible precedent.” The Bakersfield Californian says Prop 34. is about “political rivalry.” The Mercury News calls it “Revenge of the Landlords.” And the Los Angeles Times, in three separate articles, has called 34 “a sleazy abuse of the ballot,” “weaponization of the state’s citizen initiative process,” and “a new low.”
CAA doesn’t care a lick about the tens of thousands of HIV and sexually transmitted infection patients who would lose their providers or the terrible precedent of using a ballot initiative to target one nonprofit organization. If the landlord initiative becomes law, it will put a target on the back of every nonprofit that legally and legitimately engages in advocacy. CAA’s unabashed greed knows no limits.
Every voter who believes in the initiative process must oppose this anti-AHF initiative. Any person who believes that HIV/AIDS patients deserve dignified care should express their indignation at greedy landlords attempting to crucify the largest AIDS organization with a proud 37-year history. Every thinking person who realizes that housing availability in California is a human catastrophe should vote “No” emphatically.
It is not a fair fight. The corporate landlords have unlimited funds, and they own Sacramento. Now they are using the overpriced rents they charge to pay for a campaign to oppose rent control and to target their only significant opposition.
Tell them that enough is enough. The people of California deserve better.
Michael Weinstein is the president of AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the largest global HIV/AIDS organization, and AHF’s Healthy Housing Foundation.