San Diego County fights back against Blackstone and other corporate landlords
August 13, 2024
In July, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors approved a proposal to address corporate landlords who contribute to an already difficult affordable-housing situation.[1]
At a rally organized by ACCE (Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment), the proposal’s sponsor, Terra Lawson-Remer, told the crowd, “We know that the Blackstones of the world, the Wall Street investors of the world … are deliberately fixing prices (and) colluding to drive up rents. It’s illegal, and it has to stop.”[2]
Lawson-Remer, said the proposal aims “to protect communities from illegal business practices, and safeguard housing options for first-time homebuyers and working families.”[3]
The proposal instructs the county to:
- analyze the extent of corporate ownership of single-family homes;
- examine possible legal actions to address allegations of price gouging, tenant harassment and price-fixing, such as joining in the many lawsuits against RealPage and its algorithmic rent setting software.
- analyze local ordinances and legislation to address allegedly unfair and anti-competitive practices;
“We’ll look at what kind of litigation that we as a county can implement on behalf of residents of San Diego County to hold these corporate investors and corporate landlords accountable,” Lawson-Remer added. “We already have those tools at our disposal.”[4]
In 2021, Blackstone bought 66 properties in San Diego County with over 5,000 total units. Since then, Blackstone has increased the rent at these properties 38% from an average of $1,696/mo. to $2,339/mo. — almost double the average rent increase for all apartments in the San Diego market, which was 20% during this period, according to a new report from the Private Equity Stakeholder Project and the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE). The increase at some Blackstone-owned buildings has been especially high – up to 79%.[5]
Renters at the rally also said Blackstone has harassed tenants and failed to respond to maintenance requests. Celeste Johnson, who rents from Blackstone in El Cajon said that there has been a difference since Blackstone bought her apartment complex in 2021. “I noticed that everything I reported couldn’t get done at all,” Johnson said. “It was now my fault, my responsibility. We went through maybe three or four managers before I could even at least get one simple thing fixed.”[6]
There was extensive media coverage of the county’s actions:
NBC 7, July 17, 2024, “San Diego County passes proposal to limit big investor home purchases”
KPBS, July 15, “San Diego County to take up proposal to combat private equity landlords”
CBS8, July 15, “Fighting back against corporate investors buying up San Diego’s homes”
[1]https://www.kpbs.org/news/politics/2024/07/17/san-diego-county-supervisors-ok-proposal-on-large-housing-purchasers
[2]https://www.kpbs.org/news/quality-of-life/2024/07/15/san-diego-county-to-take-up-proposal-to-combat-private-equity-landlords
[3]https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/san-diego-county-passes-proposal-to-limit-big-investor-home-purchases/3569065/
[4]https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/corporate-investors-buying-up-san-diegos-homes/509-ba9637e1-bd22-4230-b664-54bfb684fa07
[5]https://pestakeholder.org/reports/helter-shelter-how-blackstone-contributes-to-and-profits-from-californias-broken-housing-system/
[6]https://www.kpbs.org/news/quality-of-life/2024/07/15/san-diego-county-to-take-up-proposal-to-combat-private-equity-landlords
