Big Real Estate Sets Up Secretive Committee to Stop Prop 21
On Thursday, July 16, a little before noon, Essex Property Trust executive John Eudy sent an email to his deep-pocketed colleagues in the real estate industry, asking for campaign contributions — $100 per apartment — to stop Proposition 21. At first glance, there was nothing remarkable about the email — just another mid-day solicitation for someone’s money. But at the bottom, it was signed by seven men who called themselves the “executive committee” of Californians for Responsible Housing. What was that?
Prop 21 is a November ballot measure that puts sensible limits on unfair, sky-high rent increases in California. It has the support of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, labor and civil rights icon Dolores Huerta, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, and the California Democratic Party, among many other civic leaders, labor unions, and housing justice organizations. They believe Prop 21 is urgently needed to address California’s housing affordability crisis, which has only worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Big Real Estate hates the initiative — Prop 21 reins in corporate landlord greed and makes rents more affordable. The real estate industry has created four No on 21 campaign committees to raise tens of millions in campaign cash. The leading No on Prop 21 committee is Californians for Responsible Housing sponsored by the California Apartment Association. Enter John Eudy and his crew.
Unknown until recently, Eudy and other Big Real Estate executives have formed a secretive No on 21 “executive committee,” which calls the shots for Californians for Responsible Housing sponsored by the California Apartment Association. Its members are powerful figures within the real estate industry, and so far they’ve raised $30.4 million from publicly traded real estate investment trusts and other corporate landlords. From hiring controversial political consultant Steve Maviglio to TV ad spending, the executive committee makes the big decisions.
John Eudy is one of the co-chairs of the executive committee. He’s joined by co-chair and Equity Residential executive Barry Altshuler, who’s also board president of the California Apartment Association (CAA). The third co-chair is John Millham, an executive at Prometheus Real Estate Group and a CAA board member. Multi-millionaire landlord Tod Spieker, AvalonBay Communities executive Sean Breslin, California Apartment Association CEO Tom Bannon, and National Multifamily Housing Council executive Jim Lapides round out the executive committee. They all have sordid histories of opposing renter protections — no matter the circumstances.
Spieker, for example, has spent tens out of thousands trying to stop rent control in Mountain View and San Mateo. Bannon and the CAA aggressively oppose renter protections all over California, including a recent temporary rent freeze in Santa Ana during the COVID-19 pandemic. As board members of the CAA, Eudy, Altshuler, and Millham have signed off on Bannon’s confrontational approach. And all of them played a major role in defeating Proposition 10, the 2018 ballot measure that attempted to allow local officials throughout California to expand rent control.
To date, Eudy’s Essex Property Trust, founded by billionaire George Marcus, has shelled out $4.7 million to Californians for Responsible Housing, according to state filings. Breslin’s AvalonBay Communities, led by CEO Tim Naughton, has delivered $2.9 million. Altshuler’s Equity Residential, led by co-founder and billionaire Sam Zell, has contributed $3.7 million. In addition, Spieker and Prometheus Real Estate Group, led by billionaire Jackie Safier, have shelled out $509,733 and $872,560, respectively, to Californians for Responsible Housing sponsored by the California Apartment Association.
Big bucks, and Eudy and his fellow members on the executive committee have already spent $1.4 million on high-priced consultants.
What’s laughable to anyone who’s battled these Big Estate Real executives is that they frame Prop 21 as the wrong solution to California’s ongoing housing affordability crisis. Housing justice veterans know better: Eudy and Marcus, Altshuler and Zell, and Breslin and Naughton only care about protecting their huge profits — made off the backs of California renters — by maintaining their ability to charge outsized rents.
With Big Real Estate’s opposition to Prop 21, it’s about the profits, stupid.
When Californians see countless TV ads, spewing distortions and political spin, they should remember who’s behind them: Eudy, Altshuler, Millham, Breslin, Spieker, Bannon, and Lapides. These are men — three of whom report to stockholders — who’ve never been interested in more reasonable rents. In fact, it’s been just the opposite. It’s one of the major reasons why California has been mired in a housing affordability crisis. The No on Prop 21 executive committee won’t show TV ads that go into that.
Patrick Range McDonald is an award-winning reporter and advocacy journalist for Housing Is A Human Right.
