The Billionaire Donor: Follow the Money

Big money is influencing UC Berkeley to evict tenants and demolish rent-controlled units to build fancy student housing. Why?

The University of California Regents, led by Gov. Newsom, purchased 1921 Walnut St. in July 2020. Along with the developer, billionaire real estate heiress Jacklyn Safier (CEO of Prometheus and President of the Helen Diller Foundation), their plan is to destroy the building, evict all the tenants and permanently remove these rent-controlled units from Berkeley housing stock. As of January 2020, UC planned to leave 1921 Walnut St. intact and to protect the tenants of 1921 Walnut St. Originally UC and Jaclyn Safier agreed privately in a MOU to exclude 1921 Walnut St. from any redevelopment. Then in July 2020, at the height of the Covid pandemic, UC and Jaclyn Safier decided it would be a good time to purchase 1921 Walnut St., begin the relocation and eviction process, and permanently destroy these rent-controlled units. This information was obtained only via a public records request because the UC and Jaclyn Safier wanted to hide their plans from the public. Up until now, UC has kept the name of the “donor” hidden from the public, likely because UC knows that Californians will not accept this crony-capitalism. UC and Jaclyn Safier want to quietly push this project through without public scrutiny or public input. See all the Public Records Act request documents here.

 Jacklyn Safier is CEO of Prometheus Real Estate Group, Inc (the largest private owner of multifamily properties in the San Francisco Bay Area), a notorious anti-affordable housing funder and Trump donor. She gave nearly $1 million alone to oppose the Rent Affordability Act (RAA) which is on the November 2020 ballot. RAA has wide support amongst Californians and California politicians and is seen as a way to make housing more affordable in California. Jacklyn Safier, the billionaire landlord, will profit from destroying affordable housing in California.

Why is UC and Gov. Newsom teaming up with this billionaire crony to destroy affordable housing in California?

UC receives public funding from our tax dollars. It’s time to stop UC and the billionaires from evicting long-term and rent-controlled tenants.