HHR: New SB 50 Mailer Exposes Sen. Scott Wiener as ‘The Man from Real Estate’

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.

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