California's Rent Control Battle: Big Capital vs Tenants

The upcoming US election is a big one and in California the stakes are particularly high. Not only will they be electing a new President, they’ll be asked to vote Yes or No on Proposition 21 - a ballot that, if the yes vote gets a majority, could pave the way for rent control throughout the State. In this episode of PUSHBACK Talks the Filmmaker and the Advocate chat with René Moya, the lead campaigner for YesOn21 and the Director of Housing Is a Human Right at AIDS Healthcare Foundation.Rent control – which prohibits a landlord from raising rent above a certain percentage – is a hotly contested policy with huge significance in the Golden State, where rents are sky–high (San Francisco has the second most expensive rental market in the world), and where 25% of the country’s homeless population resides. But the YesOn21 campaign, Fredrik and Leilani learn, is up against really big forces, Monsters in fact. Private equity firm Blackstone (we can’t get away from them!) among others, have pulled out their wallets to defeat Prop21 and preserve their bottom line. Listen to find out more! To find out more information about proposition 21 go to - https://yeson21ca.org/Produced by WG Film Recorded & Edited by Mikey JonesMusic by Florencia Di ConcilioSocial Media & Support Team - Louise Gustafsson, Maja Moberg & Melinda BergstrandSupport the show

Om Podcasten

Cities are becoming increasingly unliveable for most people. Costs are rising but incomes are not. Sky-high rents, evictions, homelessness, and substandard housing are common realities for urban dwellers across the planet. There is a global housing crisis. How did this basic human right get so lost? Who is pushing people out of their homes and cities, and what’s being done to pushback? 

On the heels of the release of the award-winning documentary, PUSH, filmmaker, Fredrik Gertten and Leilani Farha, the former UN Special Rapporteur on the right to housing, have reconvened. Join the filmmaker and the advocate as they reflect on their experiences making PUSH and exchange ideas and stories about the film's central issue: the financialization of housing and its fall-out. 

For more about PUSH and to view it:  www.pushthefilm.com 

For more about Fredrik Gertten and his other films: www.wgfilm.com

For more about Leilani Farha in her new role, Global Director of The Shift: www.make-the-shift.org