Housing Rights Advocates Take on Avalon Bay Communities in a Socially-Distant Protest

A coalition of tenants' rights advocates that includes Housing Is A Human Right (HHR), the housing advocacy division of AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF); San Francisco Tenants Union (STU); and Tenants Together will stage a socially-distant protest followed by a press conference at 455 Market Street, SF, 94105, to call out Avalon Bay Communities.

Avalon Bay Communities, the third-largest owner of apartment buildings in the nation, is profiting off struggling renters. In 2018, they spent $4.2 million to stop rent control in California. Corporate real estate groups are working together to defeat any proposed housing reform in the state. Meanwhile, unfair rent increases have forced Californians out of their homes and onto the streets. Housing insecurity has only worsened due to the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The level of greed we see time and time again from corporate landlords like Avalon Bay is disgraceful," said René Christian Moya, Executive Director for Housing Is A Human Right. "In 2018, they contributed millions to defeat Prop 10, a housing reform measure that would've helped millions of working-class tenants. It is time for these corporations to be held accountable for their actions that fuel the ongoing housing affordability crisis."

The SOCIALLY-DISTANT PROTEST will start at 10:00 a.m. and runs until 11:00 a.m. at 455 Market Street, SF

"Rent increases are out of control, and now more than ever, we need to address predatory landlords and their leeching off the backs of working-class tenants," said Trinidad Ruiz, Organizer for Housing Is A Human Right.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the parent non-profit of Housing Is A Human Right and Healthy Housing Foundation, has long addressed public health emergencies ? from the AIDS epidemic to the Ebola crisis to California's homeless crisis. AHF will do everything it can to help the vulnerable during this difficult time.