Watch now: The Hidden Hand in Housing

Last month, African Communities Together (ACT)  hosted a webinar titled: The Hidden Hand in Housing: Unpacking Private Equity’s Role in Our Housing Crisis, which focused on the LA-based private equity firm, the CIM Group. The webinar was moderated by ACT’s National Housing Director, Sosseh Prom, in conversation with K Agbebiyi, a Senior Housing Campaign Coordinator at the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP). The webinar focused on the launch of PESP’s recent report “City of Atlanta Partners with Controversial CIM Group.”The webinar was well-received, with numerous housing advocates, journalists, and researchers in attendance.

PESP’s report discusses the City of Atlanta’s partnership with CIM to redevelop a 40 acre area of land in downtown Atlanta, frequently referred to by Atlanta locals as “The Gulch.” With initial estimates for the project being in the $5 billion range, the city of Atlanta offered CIM nearly $2 billion in sales and property tax breaks in exchange for promises of affordable housing, various public enhancement projects, and construction contracts that emphasized diversity and equity. As Agbebiyi stated on the webinar, the Gulch redevelopment project was unpopular at its inception, with housing justice organizers, economists, and advocates creating an organizing coalition called “Redlight the Gulch” to fight back against the deal. Despite community pushback, the City pushed the plan forward. Ultimately, in October 2024, CIM announced that it was reneging on the affordable housing component of the deal, opting to pay a fee of $8 million instead. Housing advocates allege that this fee was lower than it should have been, as it was based on outdated figures. On CIM, Agbebiyi said that the firm “really follows the private equity playbook.” 

The Gulch redevelopment deal is not the first time that CIM has been the subject of negative headlines in the press. For several years, the LA-based private equity firm has been called out by tenants, local politicians, and US Senators, for its alleged mistreatment of African tenants at its Southern Towers apartment complex, which is located in Alexandria, Virginia. On the webinar, Agbebiyi stated that they were partially inspired to write their report after friends pointed out that CIM was involved with the displacement of African tenants as well as The Gulch redevelopment project. CIM purchased the apartment complex in 2021, partially due to a $346.7 million loan from the Federal Housing Finance Agency. As Prom stated on the webinar, through PESP and ACT’s collaboration, organizers were able to discover “predatory conduct” that CIM engaged in.  In 2023, ACT and PESP co-authored the report CIM Group: In the Headlines, which details additional accusations against CIM over the years. Other allegations against CIM include furthering gentrification in the Los Angeles neighborhood of West Adams, labor issues and exploitation of workers at a chain of bakeries, dangerous construction and irresponsible development, and issues with public pension funds. Prom stated on the webinar that many firms claim to be “community focused or community centric and yet it seems that each decision that is made is a complete antithesis to what the community is actually asking for.” 

As more cities pursue public-private partnerships with private equity firms such as CIM, it is up to city officials to do due diligence and research the corporations they are engaging with. While CIM breaking the initial affordable housing agreement may seem surprising to some, others recognize this as part of an ongoing pattern with the firm.