The ARCH Campaign to Cap Rents and Build Public Housing Heats Up

As corporate-aligned media ramp up opposition to Prop 33 in order to preserve the profits of developers as the driver of housing construction, socialists are challenging the market imperative that makes housing a commodity and creates the crisis of the unhoused.

The Affordable Rent-Controlled Housing (ARCH) Campaign to pass Propositions 33 and 5 on the November 5th ballot will put policies in place to address this crisis.

Liz D, a DSA housing activist in Los Angeles, makes clear the connection between rent control and the “housing market”: 

“Only if you accept that housing must be a commodity in the market, that unless private developers can make a return there will be no housing construction, does attacking rent control have any saliency. In fact, housing should not be subject to the market, so Prop 33 is a good opportunity to challenge this assumption and make the case for publicly funded social housing as an alternative to the profit-based housing market.”

Proposition 33

It's important to remember that the inability to afford “market rate” rent is the primary cause of people losing their housing. The state law known as Costa-Hawkins, which Prop 33 would repeal, prevents cities from enacting controls on rent for vacant and new units. Even under the law passed in 2019 by the California Legislature that sets a maximum annual increase on rents of 10%, rents still double within six to ten years for all types of units. 

Thus, our ability to strengthen local rent control and make housing more affordable depends on repealing Costa-Hawkins, which is why tenant rights organizers have so much at stake in winning Prop 33.

Since newly built apartments rent at market rates (except for the non-profit affordable projects and affordable units set-aside for low-income tenants), without strong rent control new construction per se does not create affordable housing.  

It is also true that high interest rates reduce construction, and those high interest rates are driven by high inflation, which is driven in large part by skyrocketing costs of housing. In this sense rent control can help stabilize not only renters but the entire economy including new construction.

Proposition 5

Prop 5 would lower the threshold for voter approval of publicly financed housing, creating more alternatives to for-profit construction.

California DSA chapters are engaged in a variety of tactics to organize support for Props 5 and 33. San Diego DSA is reaching out to voters in neighborhoods most affected by increasing and high rents. Los Angeles DSA has begun canvasses and is coordinating ARCH campaign work with support for LA’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance. 

In addressing why LA DSA housing activists are especially motivated to participate in the ARCH campaign, Mark G provided some context: “63% of Angelenos are renters, and a majority are rent-burdened. Rents have been rising faster than inflation generally, and even rent-controlled units in the city permit a minimum increase of 3% annually. There is no such parallel guaranteed increase in our wages.”

Mark makes the connection between the individual burdens increasing rents create and the social impacts: “This disparity has contributed to overcrowding, displacement, and the housing crisis more generally. Many workers in the city have had to move farther away from the places where they work and spend more of their time commuting to work. This reduces the time that working people have to engage in self-directed activities and is thus expressive of the dynamics of class conflict generally:  rising housing costs make us less free.”

Profit motive—the root of the problem

At the root of this cycle of individual and social harm is the profit-motive. “The further disparity between the increases of rent-controlled housing and market rate housing create an incentive for landlords to harass and evict longer term tenants in pursuit of ever higher profits,” Mark pointed out. “To remedy this, we need vacancy control, which requires the passage of Prop 33, stronger local rent controls, and an organized working class that can secure higher wages to lessen the negative impacts of housing costs.”

North Central Valley DSA started their canvasses and outreach on September 8th. In San Francisco, DSA activists have formed an organizing committee to coordinate with DSA endorsed candidate campaigns; East Bay DSA is doing the same thing.

Matt M, a leader in the ARCH campaign from SF DSA, reports that “both our endorsed Board of Supervisors candidates have endorsed Prop 33 and we're co-mobilizing for it. We're shooting for a big turnout weekend to go along with the statewide weekend of action on October 5th and trying to tie some education about Costa-Hawkins into our tenant organizing work.”

Be a part of the campaign

DSA members in California can be a part of the ARCH Campaign, by filling out this form. And you can join ARCH campaign meetings on Tuesdays at 6:30 pm by registering here. 

The ARCH campaign state-wide Day of Action is Saturday, October 5th, timed just as state ballots go out! Be sure to sign up on the form so you can help organize an event in your area.

You can also push out messages on social media, and tell your story about high rents, evictions and why you need California to strengthen rent control. Grab some social media images here. And utilize the ARCH Campaign-in-a-Box here. 

In short: Now is the time to organize statewide to win justice for renters!