More than 300 activists, renters, and union members braved the scorching heat to protest the California Apartment Association (CAA) and Proposition 34 outside CAA’s regional headquarters in downtown Los Angeles Thursday. The rally spanned the entire city block and drew attention to the anti-tenant, corporate landlord front group’s attack against AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) over the nonprofit’s ongoing advocacy for rent control.

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AIDS and housing activists affiliated with AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), Unite Here Local 11 and the Coalition for Economic Survival protested the California Apartment Association (CAA) outside CAA’s regional Los Angeles headquarters on Thursday, September 5, 2024, in Los Angeles California. The activists protested CAA, the anti-renter, billionaire corporate landlord front group, after it placed Proposition 34, a punitive ballot measure on the November statewide ballot in a bald-faced act of greed and revenge that would penalize AHF and could strip it of its nonprofit status and medical licenses because of AHF’s years-long, vigorous advocacy for rent control in California. Photo Credit: Mark Von Holden, AP for AIDS Healthcare Foundation

AHF is the world’s largest HIV/AIDS healthcare organization and currently has 2.1 million patients in care. CAA gathered signatures for Proposition 34 by lying to voters and taxpayers about how AHF generates its revenue. CAA is aiming to strip AHF of its nonprofit status and damage its lifesaving work in 47 countries around the globe over the fight for rent control in California.

Protestors chanted and marched with signs reading, “The rent is too damn high,” “CAA stay out of my healthcare,” “No on 34. Stop the Revenge Initiative,” and “Housing is a Human Right.”

“We are here today to have our voices heard,” said Michael Weinstein, AHF president and cofounder. “We are up against billionaires who have unlimited resources, so we have to have the people mobilized and working to contact their friends, family, and neighbors. Having this magnificent turnout is so gratifying. I know we are going to march right to victory in California in November.”

“Prop 34 is a revenge ballot measure by the California Apartment Association, which represents billionaire corporate landlords, to try to stop AHF,” said Susie Shannon, Campaign Manager for Yes on 33 and No on 34. “It is so important that voters join with the more than 300 protestors out today, more than 100 elected officials, and more than 75 organizations in saying yes to 33 and voting no on 34.”

The LA Times’ Editorial Board acknowledged Proposition 34’s intent back in April, and almost every outlet (Cal Matters, KQED, San Francisco Chronicle, Associated Press) that has summarized the proposition thus far has called Prop 34 what it is – revenge. It is designed specifically to kneecap AHF in retaliation for sponsoring Proposition 33 which would remove California’s rent control ban and give local communities the right to stabilize rents and make apartments more affordable for low-income and middle-income renters.

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