YIMBY group files complaint against AIDS foundation over housing bill spending
A pro-housing group is calling for an investigation into the AIDS Healthcare Foundation for allegedly violating political finance laws when it spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to oppose a controversial housing bill that died last month.
California YIMBY announced Friday it had filed a formal complaint with the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission alleging the foundation, run by the controversial and longtime activist Michael Weinstein, ignored requirements that it report spending on ads, mailers and other attempts to fight Senate Bill 50. That proposal, from state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), aimed to increase housing density, especially near transit and areas with lots of jobs.
“In a democracy, individuals and organizations can and should passionately advocate for their point of view — but we’re supposed to play by the same set of rules,” Brian Hanlon, CEO of California YIMBY, said in a statement. “Those rules apply to Michael Weinstein as much as they apply to anyone. His violations are especially egregious since as a registered 501(c)3 charitable nonprofit, AHF is supposed to devote their resources to provide ‘medical care for those affected by HIV or AIDS,’ not to pursue political vendettas or pet political issues.”
The group, which supported Wiener’s bill, also accused Weinstein’s Los Angeles-based organization of sending out inaccurate and insensitive mailers to voters. The mailers — which equated the proposal with “negro removal,” a reference to a 1960s James Baldwin quote about San Francisco pushing people of color out of the city — were blasted as racist and offensive by the local NAACP and others.
“California YIMBY(s) are sore losers over the defeat of SB 50, and as for this FPPC complaint, there is simply no ‘there’ there,” the AIDS Healthcare Foundation said
in a statement. “These issues have been brought up before. This frivolous complaint follows similar unfounded prior administrative complaints over AHF’s legitimate and robust advocacy efforts and a third time will not be the charm.”
The foundation accused California YIMBY of being a “front group” for developers and urged its members to “get to work on a solution that actually solves California’s housing crisis, not makes it worse.”
The FPPC will review the complaint and decide whether to open an investigation. If it does move forward, the investigation could take months. If the FPPC ultimately finds the
AIDS Healthcare Foundation in the wrong, it can fine the group $5,000 for each violation, and sometimes more.
“AHF has a long history of misusing healthcare dollars to engage in politics,” Wiener said during a phone interview. “It’s not surprising to me that this organization would play fast and loose.”
SB 50 ultimately failed to clear a key state Senate hurdle in January amid intense pushback. Wiener and other housing advocates have vowed to bring forward new proposals to address what state officials say is a 3.5 million unit housing shortage in California.
Wiener hit back at the idea California YIMBY would file the complaint because the legislation failed, calling the idea “arrogant.”
“This is an issue of
transparency,” Wiener said. “It’s about whether this organization is following the law.”
Weinstein and his foundation successfully pushed to include a rent control proposal on the 2020 ballot, after a 2018 measure they spent millions to pass, Proposition 10, failed to win enough votes. The measure would let cities place caps on properties more than 15 years old and limit rent increases when a new tenant moves in instead of allowing apartments to rise to market-rate prices.
The senator and Weinstein have clashed over a number of issues for years, on everything from HIV prevention to housing. Weinstein has said he thinks proposals like SB 50 will prompt new housing development that will lead to gentrification and the displacement
of longtime residents of lower-income neighborhoods. Wiener has criticized Weinstein for casting PrEP, the HIV prevention pill, as a party drug.
California YIMBY rejected the idea that the alleged violations were an oversight.
“Weinstein’s violations of the lobby disclosure provisions of the Political Reform Act appear to be an intentional attempt to deny the public vital information regarding the organization’s lobbying expenditures,” Hanlon said. “While it is Michael Weinstein’s right to oppose affordable home building, it is not his right to violate political finance law, and to spend charitable dollars for political purposes, possibly in violation of tax law.”