For Essex Property Trust CEO Mike Schall, it’s all about the money — no matter who gets hurt. Slamming seniors with huge rent increases and forcing them out of their homes is a standard way …
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 …
Tom Bannon and California Apartment Association Take No Prisoners to Stop Renter Protections
For years, no matter who’s suffering, the California Apartment Association, the most powerful landlord lobbying group in the state, has vigorously opposed tenant protections. Even during the global pandemic, the organization fought temporary safeguards for …
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 …
UPDATE: Top 10 Contributors That Oppose Rent Control in California
Big Real Estate continues to shell out major cash to political committees that oppose the Rental Affordability Act, the November ballot measure that expands rent control in California. Equity Residential and Essex Property Trust, two …
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 …
During Pandemic, Landlords Thomas Coates and Jackie Safier Spend Big to Stop Rent Control
As the coronavirus pandemic unfolds, slamming middle- and working-class Californians who struggle to pay already sky-high rents, corporate landlords Thomas Coates and Jackie Safier (pictured above) have shelled out major campaign contributions to a committee …
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 …