As part of our cutting-edge advocacy, Housing Is A Human Right publishes award-winning advocacy journalism in the News section of our website. We write with a grassroots perspective that mainstream reporters don’t often provide; we publish in-depth special investigations; and we offer top-notch analysis of the latest housing justice news. People clearly appreciate our coverage because we’ve earned tons of page views over the past five years. So here are our Top 5 most-read stories of 2022.
Five: For years, we’ve kept close tabs on Big Real Estate, which always generates a lot of interest from our readers. The reason may be that the mainstream media, on the whole, don’t routinely cover the sins of corporate landlords and other bad actors in the real estate industry. So we’re not surprised that the fifth most-read article of 2022 was our coverage of Invitation Homes, one of the most controversial corporate landlords in the nation. In our article “Invitation Homes Continues Shameful Treatment of Tenants,” we report about the corporate landlord’s appalling track record of bad living conditions and predatory business practices. Invitation Homes also shelled out millions to kill two statewide rent control ballot measures in California. It’s an excellent read to understand how real estate bigwigs operate – and why corporate landlords must be better regulated through rent control and other measures.
Four: Earlier this year, we published a short book titled “Selling Off California: The Untold Story,” which was written by our award-winning advocacy journalist, Patrick Range McDonald. He’s been covering corporate landlords and housing justice issues for five years, and before that he was an award-winning investigative journalist at L.A. Weekly. “Selling Off California,” our fourth most-read item, concisely lays out the powerful forces and backroom deals that have created widespread gentrification, skyrocketing rents, and more homelessness. We urge everyone to read this book, which is free. It provides a big-picture, grassroots analysis of housing issues that’s rare, but needed now more than ever. Be sure to share it with your friends, family, and neighbors.
Three: Our third most-read article is “Top 5 Worst Corporate Landlords (Corporate YIMBYs Win Honorable Mention).” These real estate companies are truly bad news, and California YIMBY stood by their side by refusing to endorse two statewide rent control ballot measures in California that Big Real Estate spent $175.4 million to kill. That earned California YIMBY, which was founded and funded by Big Tech executives, an honorable mention. You’ll get all the dirt, with links to more articles about these corporate landlords.
Two: For our news coverage, we routinely write about rent control – and why it’s desperately needed to address the housing affordability and homelessness crises. Our second most-read story is about the start of the grassroots effort in Pasadena to pass rent control through a ballot measure. Housing Is A Human Right and our parent organization, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, were major contributors to that campaign, and voters overwhelmingly approved the initiative in November. It was a thrilling victory for activists and tenants in Pasadena – and for the national rent control movement. Read “Pasadena Activists Take Huge Step to Pass Rent Control and Rein In Predatory Landlords.”
One: Our number one most-read story of 2022 focused on California YIMBY. Put simply, California YIMBY is a pro-gentrification, pro-Big Real Estate, pro-Big Tech, pro-trickle-down housing, anti-rent control organization that pushes harmful legislation that can impact millions of Californians. So we wrote a letter to California YIMBY CEO Brian Hanlon, asking him to be transparent and name the organization’s top 50 contributors for 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. Right now, California YIMBY hides behind its nonprofit status so it doesn’t have to disclose the names of contributors. But we believe that since millions of lives can be upended by its policies, California YIMBY should come clean about who provides funding. We already know that several major contributors are Big Tech executives and a few players in Big Real Estate, so it’s highly likely that others in the tech and real estate industries are delivering major cash to California YIMBY. Hanlon never got back to us, by the way. That’s why we called him out in this article, which also provides an update from November. Read “UPDATE: Why Is California YIMBY Hiding the Names of Big-Money Contributors?”
We’re grateful that so many people read our coverage, and if you haven’t already, we recommend signing up for our newsletter, which always includes our latest articles. You can also follow our Medium page and receive an immediate notification about the publication of our newest story. Thanks for your support, and keep reading us in 2023.