Landlord group pays ‘activists’ to oppose Bay Area rent control measure

Facing pressure from tenant advocates, landlords and frustrated residents, the Concord City Council in March approved amendments to a hotly debated rent control ordinance that increased the annual cap on rent increases to 5%  — one of the most restrictive in the Bay Area.

But dozens of the supposed activists who turned up in “Repeal Rent Control” shirts had been paid $250 to attend the council meeting and speak in support of rolling back tenant protections, said Shamelle Salahuddin, CEO of a public relations company that organized the stunt.

“If you’re asking if I pay activists, I do,” Salahuddin said. “That’s the business that I’m in.”

The paid activists were handed signs that read “Concord Rent Control is Unsustainable” and stamped with the contact information for the California Apartment Association, a landlord industry group leading the fight against Concord’s rent control ordinance. Salahuddin said the California Apartment Association did not hire her company, Sunshine State, but she declined to say who did.

When asked if it had hired Salahuddin’s firm, the California Apartment Association did not answer. In a statement, the group said those who supported the amendment had been “victimized” by rent control activists who “behaved in a disturbing and unacceptable manner” during the meeting.

The Concord City Council meetings on Feb. 25 and March 25 “highlight the need for enhanced security measures to protect community members, city staff and council members when groups engage in a pattern of behavior that disrupts democracy over policy disagreements,” Rhovy Lin Antonio, a spokesperson for the association, said in a statement.

Concord resident Jackson Brody, 27, was one of those paid to attend the March 25 meeting. He said he saw a listing on Craigslist a week ahead of the vote indicating that staff was needed for a public relations event. After he responded, he was called by one an event organizer who said he would be helping to advance a “more moderate approach to rent control” in Concord.

He and around 30 other hired workers met in Baldwin Park across the street from Concord City Hall, as instructed by Salahuddin’s team.

“This was just one of those operations for which they were hiring anyone with a pulse who had responded,” Brody said. Some people appeared not to speak English or understand what was going on, he added.

“They’d hired one person who looked like she was in her late 80s and struggling to walk with a walker,” Brody said. “This was my first indication that maybe this was something that was a little untoward.”

In a follow up statement to this new organization, Salahuddin described herself as a community organizer who “put together groups of passionate citizens who truly believe in the cause.” She said that pro-rent control activists have “resorted to attempts to character assassinate their political opponents by claiming that they are not sincere activists.”

But Brody pushed back against the idea that this was a grassroots movement in any way.

“It was purely astroturf,” he added, implying the support was artificial.

He said that when the group walked over to City Hall, Salahuddin interacted with “polished-looking reps” who later, during the City Council meeting, identified themselves as working with the California Apartment Association, Brody said. He said that those reps handed them the fresh shirts that they were instructed to wear. The apartment association on March 26 posted a photo with the paid activists in a blog post celebrating their supporters.

The meeting was jam-packed with tenant advocates, renters and a number of landlords who wore bright yellow stickers reading “Ethical Housing Provider.”

Landlords spoke in favor of an amendment proposed by Councilman Pablo Benavente, who had proposed a modification to the rent control ordinance that would cap rental increases at 7%. It would have also exempted rented single-family homes and condominiums from the measure.

Toward the end of the meeting, about eight people wearing the “Repeal Rent Control” shirts approached the dais and offered a one-sentence statement in support of the councilmember’s amendment.

One woman approached the dias. “My name is Shantal S, and I’m here to support Pablo’s…” She paused. “Thing.”

At the end of the meeting, Mayor Carlyn Obringer proposed a compromise measure of a fixed 5% annual cap. It also exempts some single-family homes and condominiums from just-cause eviction rules if the landlord owns fewer than two rental homes in Concord. The measure passed 3-2.

Brody, for his part, said that he wouldn’t have shown up had he been aware it was paid for by pro-landlord groups.

“I suspect that others wouldn’t have as well,” Brody said.

Tahirah Dean, an attorney with the tenant rights group Public Advocates, said that the pro-rent control groups’ tactics mirror tactics that Elon Musk has used in Wisconsin, paying voters $100 to sign petitions in a state Supreme Court election campaign.

“People are not shy about getting what they want, and they’ll use money to do that,” Dean said. “They’re not really trying to cover up how money is influencing politics.”