Hunter Biden has taken a new role as director of development for a tenants’ rights and homelessness prevention nonprofit in Southern California, he revealed in a recent interview.
The president’s son made the announcement during an appearance on Andrew Callaghan’s Channel 5 podcast, posted to YouTube on Tuesday. Biden said he recently began working with BASTA, a group focused on preventing evictions and representing vulnerable tenants in Los Angeles.
“I just think there is such an opportunity to be of service right now,” Biden said. “Not in some kind of melodramatic way – but there are a lot of people getting the s--- beat out of them out there, right here in LA.”
BASTA, which stands for Bringing an End to Subsidized Tenant Abuse, was founded in 2005 and bills itself as the “most comprehensive tenant rights organization in Southern California.” The group has four offices, over 15 attorneys, and handles a wide range of legal and support services for tenants.
Biden emphasized that BASTA does not accept federal funding, which allows the group to represent undocumented immigrants, including Salvadoran and Ukrainian families who often struggle to find stable work and housing.
“They lose their income, and almost all of these people are families and children,” he said. “If you can keep someone in their home, you’re also keeping someone off the street. When a child becomes homeless, the road back to normalcy becomes exponentially harder.”
The group is known for pioneering a legal strategy that brings eviction cases to jury trial, which is a right under California’s constitution. BASTA says this approach gives power back to the community, resulting in more favorable outcomes for tenants.
“Rather than having cases decided by a single judge, cases are decided by members of the community — including many tenants,” the organization states on its website. “The strategy works. BASTA has won more jury trials in eviction cases than all of the other organizations in Southern California combined.”
Biden framed his new role as an opportunity to contribute meaningfully on the ground. “There’s enormous opportunity for just normal people to do kind of heroic things,” he said.