This fall, Californians will vote on a piece of legislation that would go a long way toward curbing the state’s affordable housing crisis. Prop 10, as the ballot initiative is known, would repeal controversial restrictions on rent-control and allow cities to create new rent-controlled housing stock.
Brave New Films, and the Proposition 10 campaign, have released a new short film—Corporate Landlords: The Fight for Affordable Housing in California—exposing the greed and abuses of corporate landlord Blackstone. The film shows how Prop 10, if passed, could be a lifeline for countless tenants across California struggling to get by.
Blackstone is the largest owner of real-estate in the world, managing nearly $100 billion in property. It is just one of the corporate landlords creating and profiting from the housing crisis in California, and this short film showcases the out-of-control corporate greed that has helped lead to the state’s displacement crisis. Corporate Landlords features interviews with tenants of Blackstone and its subsidiary, Invitation Homes, and shows how the company has consistently neglected maintenance of its properties, while spiking rents to sky-high levels. One tenant highlighted, Sheri Eddings, discusses how she’s fought multiple $500 rent increases while living in a neighborhood known as “Death Valley,” a reference to the area’s high murder rate.
While Blackstone is a major part of the film, the short is interspersed with footage of rallies in support of Prop 10, as well as expert testimony in favor of rent control. If passed, Prop 10 would overturn the 1995 Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act. Signed into law by Republican Governor Pete Wilson that year, Costa-Hawkins prohibits cities from expanding rent control to single-family homes and condos, as well as buildings built after 1995. Repealing the act would allow cities to take immediate action to keep people in their homes and curb corporate greed.
To help spread the word about California’s Proposition 10, a statewide ballot initiative that would return power to local communities to expand rent control, take a minute to watch the film. Could similar efforts to expand rent control come to your state?
