Vote NO on Prop 98 -The California Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act - Stop the Jarvis Anti Rent Control Trojan Horse Initiative
UPDATE 6-04-08 WE WIN: Prop 98 Goes Down!
98 DEFEATED - YES VOTES 1,342,655 = 39.0% - NO VOTES 2,091,890 = 61.0%
If you RENT a space in a MOBILE HOME PARK or currently ENJOY RENT CONTROL PROTECTIONS of any kind then you’ll want to Vote NO on Prop. 98 “The California Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act (AKA: CPOFPA” on the June 2008 ballot
Prop. 98 will eventually eliminate rent control for all properties in California. Under this proposition rent control will be eliminated every time a property is vacated by the original tenants. View PDF of the CPOFPA
Articles:
Los Angels Times 1-28-08
San Francisco Chronicle 11-18-07
Mobile Home Owners: This will mean that if you live in a rent controlled mobile home park, and you were to sell your home, the next person would no longer receive the same rent protections that you had. This means your home will be devalued dramatically. In some cases it may be worthless. Thousands of mobile home owners will lose millions of dollars in equity overnight.
Renters: After you move, the property you rented will no longer be protected by rent control. This will continually shrink the pool of affordable rentals until there are none.
There is no reason to eliminate affordable housing in a state that is increasingly becoming the least affordable places to live in the world except to line the pockets of already wealthy property owners. If we want to protect our farmland then let’s do it honestly instead of through a Trojan Horse Proposition that is really designed to eliminate affordable housing and rob thousands of mobile home owners of their equity.
Download an easy to print PDF document explaining the DANGERS of The California Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act and why you should SUPPORT Prop. 99 “The Homeowners Protection Act” instead.
Don’t take our word for it. Read the Prop. 98 - The California Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act for yourself.
A Non Partisan Review:
The Legislative Analyst’s Office has been providing fiscal and policy advice to the Legislature for more than 65 years. It is known for its fiscal and programmatic expertise and nonpartisan analysis of the state budget. The office serves as the “eyes and ears” for the Legislature to ensure that the executive branch is implementing legislative policy in a cost efficient and effective manner.View their opinion of Prop. 98 - The California Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act
The true purpose of Prop. 98 is to abolish rent control in California – making it extremely difficult for thousands of seniors and widows on fixed incomes, single mothers and working families to find adequate housing they can afford. The measure would also gut renter protection laws, such as laws requiring the fair return of rental deposits and laws requiring 60-day notice before forcing tenants out of their housing.
Other Threats from Prop 98 “The California Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act”
Threaten water quality and supply. Drafting errors in the The California Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act would be locked into the Constitution and could prohibit the acquisition of land and water through eminent domain to develop public water projects – threatening many future water projects intended to preserve clean drinking water, protect existing water resources, and secure additional water supply. The Association of California Water Agencies says the California Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act “could derail needed groundwater and surface water storage projects around the state” and calls this flaw in the measure “cause for alarm.”
Hurt the environment and stop regulations that protect our neighborhoods. In the definitions section is a clause that would prohibit laws and regulations that “transfer economic benefit to one or more private persons at the expense of the private owner.” Because the courts have ruled that virtually all land-use decisions and environmental laws transfer economic benefit from one party to another, the California Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act would prohibit countless laws that protect our land, air, water and laws that protect our neighborhoods and home values.
Who’s Supporting The California Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act?
Follow the Money: The Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association and their allies contributed $1,500,000 (one and a half million) to the initiative. The California Farm Bureau, the second biggest contributor, gave $200,000 (two-hundred thousand). When the vast majority of funding comes from anti-rent control groups do you really think this is about saving family farms?
Below are the main groups advocating the elimination of rent control and affordable housing programs in California:
The California Farm Bureau Federation
The California Farm Bureau Federation is a non-governmental, non-profit, voluntary membership California corporation that’s purpose is to protect and promote agricultural interests throughout the state of California and to find solutions to the problems of the farm, the farm home and the rural community.
Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association
(WMA) is a nonprofit organization created in 1945 for the exclusive purpose of promoting and protecting the interests of owners, operators and developers of manufactured home communities in California. Usually behind most lawsuits that try to overturn local mobile home rent control policies. Targets are generally very small towns that do not have the resources to fight their deep pocket legal assault. They have never one a fight honestly. They win through capitulation when the local government runs out of money to keep fighting them in court.
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
The folks behind Proposition 13. If the government is trying to collect taxes they are usually there to try and stop it. Sounds good until you realize we really do need billions of dollars for schools, police protection, fire protection, flood control, consumer and workplace safety, libraries, etc. How we are going to pay for all this doesn’t seem to be a concern for the HJTA.
The California Alliance to Protect Private Property Rights
(CAPPPR) is a coalition of family farmers, community and taxpayer advocates committed to exposing the dangers and abuses of eminent domain — government’s taking of private property from unwilling sellers.
This post from the Berkeley Property Owners Association sums up the anti-rent control position nicely.
Who’s Against The California Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act?
Organizations in opposition to Prop. 98: (List courtesy of )
Senior:
AARP
California Alliance for Retired Americans
Gray Panthers California
Business:
Silicon Valley Leadership Group
The California Housing Consortium
Public Safety:
California Police Chiefs Association
Education:
California Teachers Association
California School Boards Association
Homeowners:
League of California Homeowners
Golden State Manufactured-Home Owners League, Inc. (GSMOL)
California Mobile Homes Resource and Action Association
Coalition of Mobile Home Owners- California
Resident Owned Parks, Inc. (ROP)
California Coalition for Rural Housing
Alimur Park Homeowners Association
Butte County Mobile-Home Owners Association
GSMOL Chapter 1613
GSMOL Chapter 1279
GSMOL Chapter 708
Homeowners Association of Cameron
Mobile Estates
Mobilehome Residents Alliance of Nevada County
Mobile Parks West Homeowners Association
New Frontier Homeowner Association
Neighborhood Friends
Palos Verdes Shores Homeowners Association
Santa Ana Mobile Home Owners Association
Windsor Group
Mobile Home Owners Coalition
Agriculture:
Western Growers Association
Water:
Association of California Water Agencies
Consumer:
Consumer Federation of California
Labor:
State Building and Construction Trades Council
AFSCME 2712
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
Marin County Building and Construction Trades Council
Renter Advocates/Housing Providers:
Eminent Domain Reform Now-Protect Our Homes
Housing California
California Housing Consortium (CHC)
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
Coalition for Economic Survival
Eviction Defense Collaborative
Sacramento Mutual Housing Association
Inquilinos Unidos
Just Cause Oakland
San Francisco Tenants Union
Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights
Council of Tenants - Los Angeles
Eviction Defense Network
Lincoln Place Tenants Association
Oakland Tenants Union
Environmental:
National Wildlife Federation
California League of Conservation Voters
Natural Resources Defense Council
Planning and Conservation League
Environmental Defense
Defenders of Wildlife
Greenbelt Alliance
Healthy Homes Collaborative
Mariposans for the Environment and
Responsible Government
Wild Heritage Planners
Public Interest/Community:
League of Women Voters of California
Western Center on Law and Poverty
Community Advocacy Center
Inner City Law Center
Los Angeles Community Action Network
Miracle Mile Action Committee
Our City
Union de Vecinos
Los Angeles Community Legal Center and Educational
One Stop Immigration Counselor
Ethnic:
Black, Asian, Minority and Ethnic Renaissance CDC
Government:
League of California Cities
California State Association of Counties
California Special Districts Association
California Chapter of the American
Planning Association
California Redevelopment Association
Faith:
California Church Impact
St. Anthony Foundation