LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As part of an investigative series on the real estate contributors of the No on Prop 21, the Yes on 21 campaign has released a special report that lays out the predatory practices of Blackstone Group and its CEO, billionaire Stephen Schwarzman. As reported in August, Blackstone is using a shell committee to funnel millions to No on Prop 21.
Blackstone and Schwarzman typify the corporate landlords who are contributing millions to the No on Prop 21 campaign and are calling the shots behind the scenes. The special report is a must read, and shows how Schwarzman, who’s contributed $4.4 million to Donald Trump and campaign committees connected to Trump, will do anything to kill Proposition 21 -- and protect his billions.
The report also further underlines that the corporate landlords behind the No on Prop 21 campaign do not care about bringing urgent solutions to California’s housing affordability crisis, which has only worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. Schwarzman, billionaire Sam Zell, billionaire Geoffrey Palmer, and other corporate landlords are concerned about one thing: stopping Prop 21 to protect their gigantic profits.
The No on Prop 21 spokesman Steve Maviglio and his real estate clients try to divert the media’s attention away from the fact that real estate investment trusts such as Blackstone Group, Essex Property Trust, and Equity Residential are the driving forces behind the No on Prop 21 campaign, and from the fact that real estate companies see Proposition 21 as a threat to their profit margins. But CoStar News has already exposed Blackstone and its shell committee and the role of corporate landlord money in the No on Prop 21 campaign. Yes on Prop 21’s story on the shell committee was also chosen as a featured article on Medium.
Patrick Range McDonald, who recently won the “Best Activism Journalism” award from the Los Angeles Press Club, is the author of the Schwarzman special report.
Lastly, a noted figure featured in the report is former United Nations special rapporteur on the Right to Housing Leilani Farha, who earned global headlines for exposing Blackstone’s key role in the global housing affordability crisis. Tellingly, Farha, who has traveled the globe to investigate gentrification, housing affordability, and homelessness, has endorsed California’s Proposition 21.
Read the Special Report: “Modern-Day Robber Baron: The Sins of Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman.”
Proposition 21
When passed, Proposition 21 will remove current state law restrictions, giving cities and counties the power to implement and expand rent control policies that limit how much rents can increase each year. It would allow local communities to:
- Expand rent control to more buildings while exempting newly constructed buildings.
- Exempt Single-Family homeowners who own up to two homes.
- Allow limits on rent increases when a new renter moves in.
Housing Is A Human Right (HHR) is the housing advocacy division of AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), and the leading sponsor of Proposition 21.
Proposition 21 is sponsored by Homeowners & Tenants United, with significant funding by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. To learn more, visit www.yeson21ca.org and www.housinghumanright.org.