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Vote for Racial Equity this November: Advancement Project California’s Voter Guide

11.01.18
C4E Host Committee (1)

In six weeks, Californians will take to the ballot box at a consequential period in our State’s history. The incoming Governor and newly elected legislators will inherit a California grappling with racial disparities, persistent gaps in educational attainment, a housing affordability crisis, and a surging homeless population.

Perhaps most importantly, voters have an opportunity to pass three measures that individually tackle specific aspects of the housing crisis, and together add up to substantial action. That is important because there is no single, silver-bullet solution to one of the greatest racial injustices of our time. Skyrocketing rents, gentrification and displacement, and housing instability disproportionately affects low-income Black and Latino Californians, many of whom were targeted by predatory housing loans and lived in redlined communities. Addressing this crisis will take a multifaceted approach. Effective policy solutions should keep current residents in place, prevent existing affordable housing from being destroyed, and create new units for our growing population.

Beyond housing, residents in the cities of Los Angeles and Long Beach will vote on propositions designed to increase political participation amongst communities historically marginalized from city politics and policymaking.

The following voter recommendations are partner-driven and mission-aligned. Our focus is on statewide and local ballot measures that seek to address racial equity and relate to our program work.

Read on for Advancement Project California’s analysis of key ballot measures to support or oppose this November 6.

Statewide Ballot Measures

POSITION: SUPPORT

The following three ballot measures will work together to preserve affordable housing stock, protect low-income communities of color, and produce more housing units.

Prop 1

The lack of stable and affordable housing is one of California’s biggest challenges, and Black and Brown communities are among those most at risk of displacement and an inability to find affordable rental or owned housing. Prop 1 would spend $4B in new state bonds to increase the supply of housing as well as provide direct support to renters and homebuyers. By creating up to 50,000 new housing units, Proposition 1 would have a significant impact, and the bond would be paid for out of largely progressive revenues.

Visit Vetsandaffordablehousingact.org to learn more.

Prop 2

By leveraging existing Mental Health Services Act dollars to fund a $2B bond for supportive housing construction, this measure would help create roughly 20,000 new beds for homeless individuals with mental health needs. Homelessness is a severe crisis in many of our state’s cities, and homeless individuals are disproportionately people of color. In Los Angeles County, for example, data from the most recent homeless count revealed that the total homeless population is 36% Black (17,825 residents) and 35% Latino (17,540 residents). Supportive housing is a best-practice approach that can help the most severely-impacted people find a path to self-sufficiency.

Prop 10

Rent control can play an important role in preventing homelessness and displacement by helping protect tenants from rising rents as housing scarcity drives up costs. Prop 10 would give localities the autonomy to effectively implement rent control policies by removing restrictive state-law limitations. In many cities, gentrification is breaking up historic communities of color at a rapid rate, and Prop 10 could help protect existing tenants and provide long-term housing stability while slower-moving solutions are implemented.

Visit yesonprop10.org to learn more.

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POSITION: OPPOSE

PROP 5

At a time when schools and local services are still recovering from the impact of the great recession, this measure would slash their budgets by a billion dollars a year and redistribute the money via tax cuts that would benefit the wealthiest Californians. Despite the disingenuous arguments of Prop 5’s proponents, California law already provides protections for older homeowners who are planning to downsize as they age, meaning this measure doesn’t solve a real problem, and in fact would make it harder for aspiring first-time homeowners to buy a house. Further, because people of color have historically been excluded from homeownership by both explicit and structural discrimination, this measure would exacerbate racial disparities in housing.

Local Ballot Measures

POSITION: SUPPORT

Los Angeles: Measures E and EE

Election timing matters. Local elections that occur on the same day as statewide primary or general elections facilitate higher levels of voter participation from a more diverse range of voters. Measures E and EE amend the City Charter to align the primary election dates for mayoral, council district, and school board races with the State’s primary election date, which was changed last year from June to March of even-numbered years starting in 2020. Voters overwhelmingly supported concurrent election dates in 2015 and Measures E and EE are meant to realign these dates as intended.

Long Beach: Measure DDD

Historically, in an effort to protect incumbents, partisan power, and the interests of Whites, redistricting has been used to dilute the political power of people of color. Dilution has often occurred through “cracking,” which involves separating a demographic group into more than one district and thereby weakening its potential impact on elections by spreading its voting power. By transferring authority of redistricting to an independent citizens commissions and creating more entry points for public participation in the redistricting process, Measure DDD would give racial/ethnic groups that have been traditionally marginalized from City politics more opportunity to avoid being “cracked” and having their voting power diluted. 

Learn more about Measure DDD through California Common Cause here.

Advancement Project California encourages voters to utilize the following resources for additional information on polling locations, candidates, and state and local ballot measures.