We Are at Risk of Losing Our Rent Increases!

We Are at Risk of Losing Our Rent Increases!

Vacancy de-control, or your right to charge market rate rents when you have a vacancy, is “on the line” and we are at grave risk of losing significant amounts of rental income and property values.

Michael Weinstein, the President and Founder of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has a new, rent control initiative on the November ballot. In 2018, Weinstein and AHF spent $24 million dollars (Proposition 10) and in 2020 approximately $30 million (Proposition 21) in an attempt to impose some of the most burdensome and restrictive local rent control on all types of residential rental property, and to restrict our ability to increase rent to market when there’s a vacancy.

This year, Weinstein and AHF are at it again, with a far worse proposal called the “Justice for Renters Act” (to receive a ballot number soon). Under this latest attack, if passed, the following will occur:

1. Local jurisdictions will eliminate the right to charge market rate rent following a tenant’s vacancy, or in other words, we will have “vacancy control” in place like the City of New York.
2. Costa-Hawkins, a state law that exempts from rent control new residential development, single-family homes, condominiums, and accessory dwelling units will be eliminated.
3. All residential rental properties of any type may fall under local rent control ordinances – local jurisdictions will have the right to impose low annual rent “caps” on properties that today are exempt or covered under state rent control (Tenant Protection Act, or Assembly Bill 1482).
4. Assuming the experience in California is the same as New York City, property owners can expect to lose 40% or more of the equity in their rental properties.

Here’s an illustration of how bad things may look if “vacancy de-control” is eliminated, or in other words, we lose our right to raise rent to market after a vacancy

Who is Michael Weinstein? Weinstein grew up relatively poor in New York City in a rent-controlled apartment. He believes in rent control and feels everyone should live in socialized housing. He once taught Socialism at the college level before founding AHF, which is one of the largest pharmaceutical distributors in the U.S. today, run as a non-profit organization, and most funded through tax dollars for AIDS healthcare and research.

Weinstein also owns rental property that he makes available to low-income renters. However, the Los Angeles Times recently declared that Weinstein is a “slumlord” after the newspaper’s investigation exposed deplorable conditions in the apartments AHF operates. In addition, the California Legislature significantly cut AHF’s funding because of what had been characterized as despicable, political tactics. Over the past 10-years, Weinstein has filed 100’s of lawsuits against drug companies, property owners, and others, and he once attempted to pass a moratorium on any type of commercial construction within the City of Los Angeles.

Enough is Enough! We need to put a stop to the endless cycle of multi-million-dollar attacks on property owners by Weinstein, who is someone that has been dubbed a REAL slumlord. PLEASE HELP US!... Can we count on you to contribute today to help defeat Michael Weinstein and his "Justice for Renters Act” ballot initiative?

To defeat this latest attack by Weinstein, we need to once again raise approximately $80-$90 million. We did this twice before, and our arguments against the initiative are solid, but we cannot make these arguments known to voters without a expansive online and broadcast media campaign along with grass roots efforts.

Now Here’s the Most Important Part…

HERE’S HOW YOU CAN HELP US! Please give us your strong support by contributing $50-$100 per unit. If this is too much, please help us by giving what you can. The cost of losing at the ballot box is far more than a few hundred or a few thousand dollars today…the outcome could cost each of us hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost rental income and equity value of our investment properties. Please give generously…funds are needed as soon as possible.

We’ve Been Successful Before! With the past, two Weinstein and AHF attempts, through the generous support of our members and property owners throughout California, we were able to resoundingly defeat these attacks by approximately two-thirds margins. Your financial support can help us to do this once again and successfully preserve vacancy de-control once again.