CHALT’s leaders on NextDoor and Facebook have repeatedly shared material from a particular website called Housing is a Human Right. They’ve shared pictures, articles, and phrasing from the website — which touts itself as fighting for housing justice.

A small amount of digging — literally one Google search —  paints a slightly different picture. The website was created as an offshoot of the billion-dollar non-profit AIDS Healthcare Foundation in Los Angeles. The organization has faced criticism, notably for being the only major AIDS organization to come out against the life-saving drug PReP,  and for becoming active in anti-housing efforts, which have nothing to do with their mission of helping AIDS patients access medication. (Their anti-housing initiative shares a website with their AIDS organization.)

As a piece in The Advocate notes, “AHF has been a years-long legal battle with a developer who wants to build two luxury towers adjacent to AHF’s offices — a lawyer for the towers’ developer told the Los Angeles Times that [executive director] Weinstein’s reason for opposition was that his own view would be obscured by the skyscrapers.”

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation has used millions of dollars of the AIDS organizations dollars to fund lawsuits against housing bills in CA aimed at tackling that state’s housing shortage. The Housing is a Human Right website and another website called Preserve LA are both part of that strategy;  Housing’s writer was hired to head the org’s ballot efforts,which include placing Google ads for housing-related terms. Another effort by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation – purchasing apartments for poor tenants – has resulted in lawsuits for delaying inspections and trapping residents in their rooms.

We encourage you to learn more about this source from the following legitimate news organizations:

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Melody Kramer is a Peabody-award winning journalist whose work has appeared on NPR and member stations around the country, as well as in publications ranging from National Geographic to Esquire Magazine....