NPR: Corporate Landlord Evicts Black Renters At Far Higher Rates Than Whites, Report Finds

NPR shared the story of Katrina Chism, a single mother in Atlanta whose landlord is Front Yard Residential, owned by private equity firms Pretium Partners and Ares Management. According to Chism, her landlord refused to accept federal rental assistance money she secured to pay her rent, instead saying she had to move out or be evicted.

NPR, June 3, 2021: Corporate Landlord Evicts Black Renters At Far Higher Rates Than Whites, Report Finds

Private Equity Stakeholder Project’s (PESP) Executive Director Jim Baker told NPR that Pretium Partners’ single family rental companies Front Yard Residential and Progress Residential had filed to evict more than a thousand residents since last September, when the CDC eviction moratorium took effect, even though some other large landlords have held off on evictions.

Disturbingly, Pretium is filing to evict residents at rates four times as high in majority-Black counties. Since the beginning of the year, Pretium has filed to evict nearly 20% of its residents in the majority-Black DeKalb and Clayton counties in Georgia.

PESP Report, Apr 15, 2021: PANDEMIC EVICTOR: Don Mullen’s Pretium Partners Files to Evict Black Renters, Collects Billions From Investors

Baker said, “Pretium Partners is not a mom-and-pop landlord. They have billions of dollars in assets under management. They’re run by a guy named Don Mullen, who used to work for Goldman Sachs, and he just bought a $20 million mansion in Miami.”