Responding to skyrocketing rents, the California Democratic Party today voted overwhelmingly to endorse Proposition 10, the Affordable Housing Act, which would repeal the anti-rent control Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, and return the power of regulating rents back to local communities. With over 95% of the votes cast by California Democratic Party Executive Board members, the Yes on Prop 10 effort overcame the high 60% threshold to secure the party endorsement for the November 6 election.
“Securing the Democratic Party endorsement is huge,“ said Joe Trippi of Trippi Norton Rossmeissl Campaigns, the lead strategist of the Yes on 10 campaign. “The party’s endorsement helps make clear that it stands with the millions of Californians struggling to pay the rent and supports returning the power to respond to the state’s housing affordability crisis back to the people and back to local communities.”
“We are honored to receive the California Democratic Party endorsement,” said Damien Goodmon, Director of AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s Housing is a Human Right project and Yes on 10 campaign. “It is a product of over a year of organizing from members of the party led by Susie Shannon, Larry Gross, Deepa Verma, Jane Demian, Santa Monica City Councilmember Kevin McKeown and California Democratic Party Renter Caucus Chair Rick Hauptman. In less than 18 months these able tenant rights activists and party members created a renters’ caucus, got resolutions passed, added explicit pro-tenant language to the platform, and today, they helped secure the Prop 10 endorsement.”
At its annual convention in February of this year the Democratic Party added the following to its platform:
“Support allowing local communities to create strong tenant and affordability protections against displacement, speculation, rent increases, and evictions without interference from state law.”
Today’s endorsement translates that platform position into a formal endorsement of Prop 10.
Proposition 10, the Affordable Housing Act, is an initiative on the November ballot to repeal the state’s Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act and return power to local communities to adopt rent control necessary to address the state’s housing affordability crisis. Signed into law 23 years ago, Costa-Hawkins prevents cities and counties from applying rent control on apartments built after 1995 or to single-family rental units and condos. It also allows landlords to raise the rent as much as they want when a unit becomes vacant.
The three proponents of the Yes on Prop 10 campaign are the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE Action) and Eviction Defense Network (EDN). It has earned the broad support of over 150 labor, housing advocacy, community, and faith-based organizations throughout the state: www.affordablehousingact.org/endorsements.
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