Many years ago, at UCLA, Richard “Tod” Spieker was an All-America swimmer, whose legacy was enshrined when the school’s state-of-the-art aquatics center was named after him. Today, in 2020, Spieker, a multi-millionaire landlord in Palo …
Who Else Is Scheming to Stop Proposition 21?
As we all know, the Barons of Big Real Estate — billionaires Sam Zell and Jackie Safier, millionaires Tim Naughton and Dallas Tanner, to name a few — are pumping millions into campaign committees that …
Barons of Big Real Estate Want You to Help Them Make Billions
In a few months, Californians will vote by mail or walk into the local polling place and decide if Proposition 21, the ballot measure that limits unfair rent increases, should be passed. For middle- and …
California’s Proposition 21 is a Movement About Justice, and Big Real Estate Is Scared Silly
From California to New York, the news has not been good. Millions losing their jobs and facing eviction. Unaffordable rents in every state in the nation. Homelessness surging in the suburbs. If there was ever …
Is Billionaire Landlord Sam Zell the Quintessential Corporate Vulture?
Sam Zell, chairman of Equity Residential and Equity LifeStyle Properties, is worth $4.8 billion. He has more money than he knows what to do with. Yet as Californians struggle through the COVID-19 pandemic and housing …
Doctors Can’t Treat COVID-19 Without Recognizing Social Justice Aspects of Health
Recent data shows that Black, Latino, indigenous, and immigrant communities are disproportionately affected by COVID-19, due in large part to the persistent legacy of structural racism – practices and policies that systematically benefit white people and …
L.A. Must House Homeless, AHF Renews Offer of 74-Room Hotel
AIDS Healthcare Foundation renewed its offer today of a turnkey 74-room hotel in Los Angeles — an offer first made to government officials over two months ago — for temporarily housing the homeless and/or isolate suspected coronavirus patients. …
Top 10 Real Estate Contributors That Oppose Rent Control in California
Despite a global pandemic that’s fueling mass unemployment in California, Big Real Estate has been contributing millions to stop the expansion of rent control through the Rental Affordability Act. Housing activists say rent control is …
California Apartment Association, Once Again, Opposes Renter Protections
The California Apartment Association, one of the most powerful landlord lobbying groups in the state, has a long, sordid history of opposing renter protections. For decades, they’ve shown up anywhere and everywhere in California to …
Californians Stand Up to Big Real Estate and Back Rent Control
California’s grassroots movement that aims to expand rent control through a statewide ballot measure has reached a major milestone: the initiative, known as the Rental Affordability Act (RAA), has received more than 1,200 individual campaign …