The California Apartment Association and many of the largest corporate landlords in the United States are now gearing up to kill a pro-rent control ballot measure in Redwood City. Last month, the powerful lobbying group, using corporate landlord money, made a contribution of $20,000 to stop the local initiative. The CAA has long been known to travel anywhere in California to stop the passage of new tenant protections, especially rent control.
For years, Redwood City tenants have been rocked by skyrocketing rents, with the city council refusing to take any meaningful steps to address the local housing affordability crisis. In response, tenants and activists, led by Faith in Action Bay Area, successfully placed a measure on the local November ballot to cap annual rent hikes at five percent for qualified units and to provide other protections.
Due to the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing, a highly controversial state law that places restrictions on rent control policies, the measure applies only to units built before February 1995. If passed, the initiative will cover around 19 percent of Redwood City’s housing stock.
The signature drive to place the measure on the ballot was overwhelmingly embraced by Redwood City residents – tenants and activists collected more than 7,500 signatures.
“The number of signatures we collected speaks for itself: Redwood City wants rent control,” organizer and resident Clara Jaecket told The Daily Journal. “We’re excited that now the voters will finally have a direct say on affordability, stability for hard-working families, and the chance to stop the displacement of our neighbors.”
The public’s embrace of the rent control measure has the California Apartment Association and corporate landlords concerned — and they’ve set up a political committee to kill the initiative: No on Measure E – Protect Affordable Housing in Redwood City, A Project of California Apartment Association. On August 25, according to state filings, the CAA sent $20,000 to that committee.
The big-money contribution came from the California Apartment Association Issues Committee, one of four political committees operated by the CAA and largely funded by corporate landlords. Essex Property Trust, AvalonBay Communities, and Equity Residential are just some of the companies that have delivered enormous amounts of campaign cash to the CAA’s Issues Committee.
The California Apartment Association Issues Committee was also used to fund a political committee that stopped Proposition 33 in 2024, which aimed to repeal the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act and end statewide rent control restrictions. AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the parent organization of Housing Is A Human Right, sponsored the Yes on Prop 33 campaign.
The California Apartment Association and corporate landlords, whose executives sit on the CAA’s board of directors, are known for spending major cash to carry out slick misinformation campaigns and to buy political endorsements. (Read: “Exposé: Big Real Estate’s Money Trails to Kill the Expansion of Rent Control in California.”)
So, in Redwood City, the Yes on Measure E campaign will have its hands full. Already the Redwood City Council has sided with the CAA and corporate landlords by officially opposing the initiative rather than stand with middle- and working-class tenants. And the CAA will relentlessly roll out misleading anti-rent control arguments that a group of top economists found to be wrong and obsolete.
But it’s clear that Redwood City voters must vote “yes” on Measure E. The rent is not only too high, but Big Real Estate will also keep charging excessive rents without rent control to rein in predatory landlords.
Patrick Range McDonald is a veteran investigative reporter and the award-winning advocacy journalist for Housing Is A Human Right.