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Hi John,
Corporate landlords in Colorado shot down a law that could have stopped huge rent hikes. Here’s what happened — and how this is part of a dangerous trend across the country.
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Watch and share our video explaining what happened in CO and how this is part of a larger trend. ( Twitter [[link removed]] | Instagram [[link removed]] | TikTok [[link removed]] | Facebook [[link removed]] )
Colorado state law [[link removed]] bans all local communities from passing any rent controls. This means there is nothing stopping landlords from jacking up rents as high as they like. And landlords across the state have been doing just that, profiting at the serious expense of renters.
Landlords in Colorado have been jacking up rents at ridiculous rates over the last few years. Rent in the Denver area alone has increased by 12% in the last year, and 88% over the last decade [[link removed]] . Hundreds of thousands of people are being forced to choose between making rent and paying for other necessities like groceries, medicine, transportation, and everything else they and their families need. These rent hikes have pushed people out of their homes at an alarming rate — the number of people in the state without a stable home has risen by 266% since 2007 [[link removed]] .
People of color are getting hit the hardest by Colorado’s skyrocketing rents. Corporate landlords are targeting Black and brown communities where they buy up affordable properties and jack up the rents while contributing minimal repairs and upkeep.
This year, a proposed bill could have changed all that, repealing the ban and giving communities back the freedom to finally stop the huge rent hikes that are hurting them. But lobbyists for big corporate landlords like Greystar Real Estate set out to squash the new bill , and – surprise, surprise – it never made it out of a committee.
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Colorado isn’t the only place where corporations are using state bans to exploit our communities. Pressuring state lawmakers to block local organizing is an increasingly popular tactic for corporations that profit off exploiting people . Our research has found corporate fingerprints on state bans all across the country. For example:
*
Giant
Foods
[[link removed]]
and
other
corporations
occupied
leadership
positions
in
the
Pennsylvania
Chamber
of
Business
and
Industry,
which
successfully
worked
to
maintain
bans
on
local
minimum
wage
raises.
*
AT&T
and
Comcast
[[link removed]]
executives
held
leadership
positions
in
the
Tennessee
Chamber
of
Commerce
and
Industry,
which
successfully
fought
to
pass
a
law
to
keep
local
communities
from
setting
minimum
wage
standards.
*
Uber
[[link removed]]
poured
money
and
lobbying
power
into
Texas
state
law
blocking
communities
from
establishing
policies
to
ensure
safety
and
accessibility
for
rideshare
drivers
and
riders.
How are these corporations doing it? They use their industry groups – like chambers of commerce, restaurant associations, and apartment associations – to pressure state lawmakers to rig the rules in their favor without hurting their public image. These corporations are hiding behind industry groups and their lobbyists at the state level to block local communities from working together and demanding better.
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Watch and share our video exposing how corporate landlords squashed CO’s bill repealing the rent control ban. ( Twitter [[link removed]] | Instagram [[link removed]] | TikTok [[link removed]] | Facebook [[link removed]] )
These corporations don’t want us to know they’re behind these harmful state bans. So, the first thing we need to do is expose them. Share this story to let these corporations know that we see what they’re up to and we’re not going to take it. Because corporations shouldn’t be setting the rules for us. We should be setting the rules for them.
[[link removed]] In solidarity,
Jessie Vollmer
Campaign Director, Corporate State Interference
PowerSwitch Action
1305 Franklin St.
Suite 501
Oakland, CA 94612
United States
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