When it comes to Proposition 33 in California, a quick look at who supports the pro-rent control ballot measure and who is financing the No on Prop 33 campaign says everything. The California Democratic Party, labor and civil rights icon Dolores Huerta, and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders have endorsed Yes on Prop 33. Corporate landlords Blackstone Group, Essex Property Trust, and Equity Residential are financing No on Prop 33. From there, it’s just a matter of asking, Which said am I on?
Proposition 33 is a November ballot measure that ends rent control restrictions in California and allows cities to expand rent control policies. It’s simple. In fact, Prop 33 is only 23 words: “The state may not limit the right of any city, county, or city and county to maintain, enact or expand residential rent control.”
Prop 33, in other words, allows cities to urgently address the housing affordability and homelessness crises, which are fueled by excessive rents, by enacting rent regulations. The ballot measure also allows cities to rein in predatory landlords, especially corporate landlords such as Blackstone Group, Essex Property Trust, and Equity Residential, who charge outrageous, unfair rents.
The No on Prop 33 campaign, on the other hand, is financed by many of the largest corporate landlords in the country and is run by their front group, the California Apartment Association. Corporate landlords’ only concern is killing any kind of policy that stops them from charging wildly inflated rents. They want to keep generating billions in revenue off the backs of hard-working tenants – no matter the harm to the poor and middle and working class.
It’s why the largest corporate landlords in the nation are spending millions to kill Prop 33, which is sponsored by AIDS Healthcare Foundation and its housing advocacy division, Housing Is A Human Right. In fact, only a small group of 10 corporate landlords have shelled out nearly 80 percent of all campaign contributions to the California Apartment Association Issues Committee, which finances No on Prop 33.
But the endorsers of Yes on Prop 33 understand what’s at stake for California renters. It’s why the California Democratic Party, Dolores Huerta, Sen. Bernie Sanders, UNITE HERE Local 11, Veterans’ Voices, Social Security Works, the California Nurses Association, the San Francisco Tenants Union, UTLA, U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, State Sen. Ben Allen, and numerous others support Prop 33.
On the flip side, corporate landlords Essex Property Trust, Equity Residential, AvalonBay Communities, UDR, Prometheus Real Estate Group, Prime Administration, AIR Communities/Blackstone Group, R & V Management, Carmel Partners, Jackson Square Properties, and Spieker Companies have delivered $40.8 million to the California Apartment Association Issues Committee. In a kind of shell game, that political action committee then moves corporate landlord money to No on Prop 33.
So activists, labor unions, and civic leaders want to protect renters by passing Prop 33. Corporate landlords, however, want to exploit renters and keep charging excessive rents to make billions in revenue.
Which side are you on?