Private equity again? It has driven companies out of business to line greedy pockets. It has ruined nursing homes and hospitals to line greedy pockets. Now it make affordable housing unaffordable to line greedy pockets. Seems to me the problem is obvious and one that brave politicians could solve if they were so motivated.
It's also in PE's interest to slow or block any increases in the housing supply, in order to increase the value of their existing rental unit portfolios. As long as demand for rental units exceeds available supply, PE will continue to make serious bank.
It would be most interesting to learn what, if anything, Private Equity has lobbied for to slow or block new housing starts. Color me overly skeptical, but I'd be surprised if at least some PE players haven't worked to contain increases in housing supply. Especially in PE-saturated markets like Atlanta and parts of FL.
No question. Frankly we see it here in Syracuse as well. No one fights new affordable housing like existing greedy (mostly downstate) landlords and the developers who are converting old factories, etc. to luxury lofts or putting up luxury student housing for SU students. (Whatever happened to dorm life????)
Yeah, it seems like Builders, nationally, have a serious allergy to producing Starter Homes and Efficiency Apartments. And usually only do when *forced* by local or state governments.
The builders who specialize in residential have also been consolidating market share. Today, there are something like ten (10) Builders that utterly dominate that sector of the economy.
Residential builders build what they can make a profit on. The cost of buildable land has skyrocketed. If it is remote and affordable, add the cost infrastructure. Greedy landowners play a large part in this. Families who inherit farmland that they have no interest in farming sell to the highest bidder, further compounding the problem of high end housing as well as diminution of locally produced food. Banks play into the farce by prefering to
Finance large projects undertaken by large, known builders who build cheap, poorly constructed houses , then sell a portion of the homes to these REITS and move on to another market.
It is all about profit. It is the result of unregulated , unbridled capitalism that has skewed our economy so far out of balance. The Federal Government is the only entity with the power to enact regulation that will rectify this problem. It is going to hurt a lot of people, both investors and individuals who will end up underwater with their mortgages. We can blame the politicians in both parties who have ignored the few, like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren who have been screaming about this for years.
I was watching 'The Greatest Night in Pop' about the making of "We are the World" and was touched by how these people donated their time and talent to help those in need.
The people who run Private Equity feel that literally anything they do that earns an extra $1 in profit is justifiable and they would never think of doing something to help others if it couldn't earn them money or because it was the right thing to do.
That attitude is what is ruining schools and healthcare. "You have to run schools like a business." No you don't. They aren't a business, they are a service to the community you serve or, if you are profit driven, think of it as an investment.
Healthcare is the same way. GLP-1 drugs work and companies love them because they earn them billions. You know what also works, teaching people and incentivising exercise and healthy diets at a young age. But you can't monetize that so why do it?
Big Pharma likes all kinds of drugs because it makes them billions. Not every condition can be treated with lifestyle changes early in life but most every condition can be treated with some drug that they advertise heavily on TV or gouge cancer patients for. Worst of all in that space, most drugs were developed by researchers at NIH or CDC at our expense before Trump, Musk and RFK Jr. drove them out.
Reminder that the right to housing is recognized as a universal human right, regardless of what these parasitic private equity landlords using AI to collude against investors would suggest.
Hmm, I tried doing that in the app and it only gave me the options to share, hide, or delete. Maybe I'm missing something? I like Substack, but not the mobile app.
Name names. Tell us who these people are and do not let them hide behind their company's names. Human beings are affecting other human beings. I need not know the name of the single mother trying to get by, I know her. I want to know the names of private equity dealers who make her and her children's lives miserable for profit.
Collusion, loopholes, cost-cutting, victimizing low-income renters. The rent is too damn high because the greed is too damn big and the regulation is too damn lax. Since PE has added $3.6 billion to renters bills, they are essentially funding the campaign donations that enable their own misery…
Private equity should be banned from being able to invest in anything related to basic services, utilities, etc. Let them strip mine corporations then sell the bones, fine, but stay out of human beings basic services.
If your own 401K or other investment portfolio includes even a small amount of stocks from these companies, you are complicit, and part of the problem.
So what can we do? What should we demand of politicians? What changes to tax law will make the playing field more level? Longer depreciation periods? Raising capital gains rates? Penalties for violations of rental covenants like ignoring repairs, mold, rats? New or raised transfer taxes based on sales prices? Where are the lobbyists or advocates who will present legislation to elected officials to defend the other 98%?
This is right up the alley of Jeremy Ney's work with American Inequality. If you like this work from Judd and team, check him out: https://americaninequality.substack.com/
TBH, all landlords are bad, some are worse than others. My son is renting in Chicago from a single owner/landlord. He rented sight unseen except from pictures (had no choice, college student graduating to the big city). We walked through with him at move in, taking notes and pictures, clearly the landlord didn't walk through after the previous tenants left.
My 'favorite' was that there were multiple burned out lightbulbs, landlord's response email was that he doesn't replace burnt out lightbulbs. Now, in the move out checklist, my son is required to replace burned out lightbulbs or he will be charged. So does that mean the landlord charged the last tenant and just didn't replace them? Or did he change his rules so my son was responsible twice?
Oh, and new to Chicago this year is that there are bidding wars over rentals, just like you have over buying houses. The rental fee is apparently just a suggestion. My son lost two apartments because he could only afford the listed price.
I’m not so quick to blame Private Equity which is the piñata of the year these days. I think part of the housing shortage in major markets is because there are many “paper millionaires” living in rent controlled apartments and that “means testing” for subsidized apartments is not taking place. I have no data on this but it’s hard not to think that there’s a ton of NYC rent controlled apartments occupied by people who can well afford to pay market rents.
Private equity again? It has driven companies out of business to line greedy pockets. It has ruined nursing homes and hospitals to line greedy pockets. Now it make affordable housing unaffordable to line greedy pockets. Seems to me the problem is obvious and one that brave politicians could solve if they were so motivated.
It's also in PE's interest to slow or block any increases in the housing supply, in order to increase the value of their existing rental unit portfolios. As long as demand for rental units exceeds available supply, PE will continue to make serious bank.
It would be most interesting to learn what, if anything, Private Equity has lobbied for to slow or block new housing starts. Color me overly skeptical, but I'd be surprised if at least some PE players haven't worked to contain increases in housing supply. Especially in PE-saturated markets like Atlanta and parts of FL.
No question. Frankly we see it here in Syracuse as well. No one fights new affordable housing like existing greedy (mostly downstate) landlords and the developers who are converting old factories, etc. to luxury lofts or putting up luxury student housing for SU students. (Whatever happened to dorm life????)
Yeah, it seems like Builders, nationally, have a serious allergy to producing Starter Homes and Efficiency Apartments. And usually only do when *forced* by local or state governments.
The builders who specialize in residential have also been consolidating market share. Today, there are something like ten (10) Builders that utterly dominate that sector of the economy.
Residential builders build what they can make a profit on. The cost of buildable land has skyrocketed. If it is remote and affordable, add the cost infrastructure. Greedy landowners play a large part in this. Families who inherit farmland that they have no interest in farming sell to the highest bidder, further compounding the problem of high end housing as well as diminution of locally produced food. Banks play into the farce by prefering to
Finance large projects undertaken by large, known builders who build cheap, poorly constructed houses , then sell a portion of the homes to these REITS and move on to another market.
It is all about profit. It is the result of unregulated , unbridled capitalism that has skewed our economy so far out of balance. The Federal Government is the only entity with the power to enact regulation that will rectify this problem. It is going to hurt a lot of people, both investors and individuals who will end up underwater with their mortgages. We can blame the politicians in both parties who have ignored the few, like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren who have been screaming about this for years.
I was watching 'The Greatest Night in Pop' about the making of "We are the World" and was touched by how these people donated their time and talent to help those in need.
The people who run Private Equity feel that literally anything they do that earns an extra $1 in profit is justifiable and they would never think of doing something to help others if it couldn't earn them money or because it was the right thing to do.
That attitude is what is ruining schools and healthcare. "You have to run schools like a business." No you don't. They aren't a business, they are a service to the community you serve or, if you are profit driven, think of it as an investment.
Healthcare is the same way. GLP-1 drugs work and companies love them because they earn them billions. You know what also works, teaching people and incentivising exercise and healthy diets at a young age. But you can't monetize that so why do it?
Big Pharma likes all kinds of drugs because it makes them billions. Not every condition can be treated with lifestyle changes early in life but most every condition can be treated with some drug that they advertise heavily on TV or gouge cancer patients for. Worst of all in that space, most drugs were developed by researchers at NIH or CDC at our expense before Trump, Musk and RFK Jr. drove them out.
Reminder that the right to housing is recognized as a universal human right, regardless of what these parasitic private equity landlords using AI to collude against investors would suggest.
*tenants, not investors 🤦♂️
The three dots on the upper right corner. Easy to edit.
Hmm, I tried doing that in the app and it only gave me the options to share, hide, or delete. Maybe I'm missing something? I like Substack, but not the mobile app.
Oh, I am on a computer. I bet if you get near a laptop, you could go in and edit at any point during the day.
Name names. Tell us who these people are and do not let them hide behind their company's names. Human beings are affecting other human beings. I need not know the name of the single mother trying to get by, I know her. I want to know the names of private equity dealers who make her and her children's lives miserable for profit.
Perhaps, now hear me out, private equity firms shouldn't be ALLOWED to own housing. I know, crazy, right?
Collusion, loopholes, cost-cutting, victimizing low-income renters. The rent is too damn high because the greed is too damn big and the regulation is too damn lax. Since PE has added $3.6 billion to renters bills, they are essentially funding the campaign donations that enable their own misery…
Private equity should be banned from being able to invest in anything related to basic services, utilities, etc. Let them strip mine corporations then sell the bones, fine, but stay out of human beings basic services.
Ebenezer Scrooge, before the ghosts visited, would fit in nicely in the private equity firms.
If your own 401K or other investment portfolio includes even a small amount of stocks from these companies, you are complicit, and part of the problem.
This is a sad situation. This should be added to the list of corporate creed. How do these people sleep at night.
So what can we do? What should we demand of politicians? What changes to tax law will make the playing field more level? Longer depreciation periods? Raising capital gains rates? Penalties for violations of rental covenants like ignoring repairs, mold, rats? New or raised transfer taxes based on sales prices? Where are the lobbyists or advocates who will present legislation to elected officials to defend the other 98%?
This is right up the alley of Jeremy Ney's work with American Inequality. If you like this work from Judd and team, check him out: https://americaninequality.substack.com/
TBH, all landlords are bad, some are worse than others. My son is renting in Chicago from a single owner/landlord. He rented sight unseen except from pictures (had no choice, college student graduating to the big city). We walked through with him at move in, taking notes and pictures, clearly the landlord didn't walk through after the previous tenants left.
My 'favorite' was that there were multiple burned out lightbulbs, landlord's response email was that he doesn't replace burnt out lightbulbs. Now, in the move out checklist, my son is required to replace burned out lightbulbs or he will be charged. So does that mean the landlord charged the last tenant and just didn't replace them? Or did he change his rules so my son was responsible twice?
Oh, and new to Chicago this year is that there are bidding wars over rentals, just like you have over buying houses. The rental fee is apparently just a suggestion. My son lost two apartments because he could only afford the listed price.
Would private equity be worse? I'm not sure.
I’m not so quick to blame Private Equity which is the piñata of the year these days. I think part of the housing shortage in major markets is because there are many “paper millionaires” living in rent controlled apartments and that “means testing” for subsidized apartments is not taking place. I have no data on this but it’s hard not to think that there’s a ton of NYC rent controlled apartments occupied by people who can well afford to pay market rents.
Thanks, Rebecca and Noel! I have been complaining about this for five years, and now I know why. I have family members directly impacted.
Did Trump stop the Lawsuit against RealPage? Or, are they being held accountable?