SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As California Sen. Scott Wiener’s SB 50 wends its way through legislative committees in Sacramento, housing justice and rent control advocates affiliated with Housing Is A Human Right (HHR) today issued a new campaign mailer raising alarm about Wiener’s deep financial ties to the real estate industry as well as his flawed housing bill. HHR is the housing advocacy division of AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
The new mailer, headlined 'Scott Wiener: The Man from Real Estate,' (mailer front, mailer back) is being mailed today to residents and voters in his San Francisco district.
The California State Senate Governance and Finance Committee has voted 5 to 0 (with two absences) to advance Wiener’s troubling, trickle-down housing bill that forces ‘one size, fits all’ state control over local zoning decisions and regulations.
‘The Man from Real Estate’ mailer points out that Wiener, a one-time San Francisco supervisor who has long relied on vast amounts of campaign cash from luxury-housing developers and other real estate players to win elections and stay in power, that:
“In 2016, as he ran for the state senate, Scott Wiener hauled in nearly 700 donations from developers, real estate attorneys, brokers, lobbyists, architects, and other real estate insiders, totaling $574,276.”
The mailer also points out the devastating impact that SB 50 would have if enacted into law, including the fact that the bill would make California’s housing affordability crisis worse and would:
- “Generate billions of dollars in profit for the real estate players who are Senator Wiener's political patrons.
- Fuel a luxury-housing building boom in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and other municipalities.
- Worsen gentrification and displacement crises in California, particularly in working- and middle-class communities of color.”
According to the California Secretary of State’s Campaign Finance website, for his entire 2016 senate campaign (and/or in year 2016) candidate Wiener raised a total of $1.899 million—including the $574,246 from various real estate stakeholders. The $574K raised from real estate concern represent more than one-third of his total campaign fundraising that year.
By comparison, his senate race opponent Jane Kim, also a former San Francisco Supervisor, raised $ 1.462 million. WITHOUT the $574K Wiener raised from real estate concerns, he would have raised $134,724 LESS than Kim, whom he beat by just 8,146 votes.
Earlier this year HHR also issued a special report titled ‘Selling Out California: Scott Wiener’s Money Ties to Big Real Estate.’ To view that report, click here.
About
Housing Is A Human Right, based in Los Angeles, is the housing advocacy division of AIDS Healthcare Foundation—the world’s largest HIV/AIDS medical-care organization, serving more than one million people in 43 countries. Throughout the U.S., AHF patients have been negatively impacted by rising housing costs and gentrification, which threaten their health. HHR advocates for stronger tenants protections, fights gentrification, and advances progressive housing policies.
