California DSA ARCH Campaign Builds a Base for the Future
In the face of a $125 million campaign by the landlords and their politician allies, statewide ballot measure Proposition 33 received about 40% of the vote, with Proposition 5, the other ARCH campaign-supported initiative, garnering a slightly larger share of the vote.
This disappointing result in the third attempt since 2018 to strengthen local rent control in a state ballot reflected a negative environment for progressive issues, as initiatives raising the minimum wage and eliminating prison inmate slavery also failed.
Significant achievements
Yet, the California DSA campaign had some significant achievements, activating canvassing operations in San Diego, Long Beach and North Central Valley; coordinating with DSA-endorsed candidates in the East Bay, San Francisco and Los Angeles; and engaging DSA members and others through effective social media. CA DSA organized a state Digital Day of Action and sponsored a well-attended virtual kick-off event that brought 100 activists together to plot out local organizing. Taking advantage of national DSA resources, many chapters were able to conduct their own canvasses and phonebanks that raised the profile of DSA in those areas.
A member of East Bay DSA hands residents literature about Props 5 and 33
CA DSA approached this campaign realistically. Matt McGowen of DSA SF and a member of the ARCH steering committee explains: “When we conceived of this project, we were clear-eyed about the fact that we might not drastically affect the outcome at the ballot box, but we wanted to see what it would look like to build DSA through a big statewide push on a key political issue in our state.”
Most importantly, Matt says, “We learned a lot—about how varied and complex the political terrain is across California, but also about how much sway the real estate industry has throughout it.”
“The whole system of commodified housing”
One of the big lessons coming out of the campaign is that the fight for rent control isn’t just about Costa-Hawkins repeal. Rather, as Matt points out, “It’s about taking on the whole system of commodified housing and the influence it has on our entire lives. We’re in solidarity with the whole tenant struggle in California and we’re going to keep moving. We couldn’t beat the California Apartment Association this time, but we know our job is to build a movement that can.”
Members in North Central Valley DSA ready to knock doors
San Diego DSA frequently held canvasses for the ARCH campaign
The campaign caught fire with a few smaller DSA chapters in California. Ian Hippensteele, chair of North Central Valley DSA (NCVDSA) and the ARCH campaign co-captain there, reflected on the campaign’s impact on his chapter: “In the seven months that North Central Valley DSA was involved in the ARCH campaign, we successfully trained nearly twenty members, representing just under a fifth of our chapter, in phone banking, canvassing, VAN, and campaign communications. We strengthened our ties to national DSA, built a strong foundation for a lasting organizational relationship to California DSA, and strengthened our members’ bonds to one another as comrades.”
Far from defeated
Like all DSA members, NCVDSA was hoping for a different outcome on election night, Ian notes that “we have a clear understanding of the political terrain that stands in the way of housing justice in California and we feel far from defeated.”
The impact of the ARCH campaign was significant. Ian says, “Our chapter has aspired for years to do tenant organizing work throughout the Central Valley, and we have begun work to get this project off the ground using our list of ARCH campaign supporters and the energy the campaign has given to our chapter.”
Summarizing how many ARCH campaign activists feel, Ian notes that “we were dealt a setback on November 5th, but it will take way more than Gavin Newsom, the landlord lobby, and the real estate industry to beat the working class movement for housing justice in California.”
Maeve James, DSA Long Beach Liaison for ARCH, agrees: “This campaign was an integral part of the larger tenant struggle against unchecked rentier capitalism, a system that impoverishes the working class in favor of upward wealth transfer.”
DSA-LA members combined forces with other electoral campaigns to spread the word about Props 5 and 33.
Ongoing tenant organizing
Like other DSA chapters, DSA Long Beach (DSALB) unanimously supported this campaign, understanding that Long Beach is greatly impacted by this issue as a city of 60% renters.
The ARCH campaign was also a part of on-going tenant organizing and efforts to strengthen local rent control. As Maeve reports, “DSALB continues to pursue our shared goal of passing a rigorous, wide-reaching, enforceable rent control ordinance in the City of Long Beach. We also recognize the need to work with chapters statewide to remove the systemic barriers restricting what we can accomplish locally.”
We know that this fight is entering the next phase and the ARCH campaign will be communicating with DSA members throughout the state about upcoming organizing opportunities and where members can take action.
Maeve reminds us that “throughout this campaign, the landlord class and their accomplices desperately attempted to silence and discredit us, and in doing so, they have shown us exactly how to build a mass movement in favor of the working class and mobilize to hit them where it hurts”.
The ARCH campaign reflected the truth of DSA’s political position. As Maeve concludes, “The working class has power in our numbers. We need only concentrate our strength and direct it toward those who seek to profit off our most basic needs.”
