This Thursday, October 21 at 10am ET, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs will host a hearing, “How Private Equity Landlords are Changing the Housing Market.” The hearing will feature Sofia Lopez, Deputy Campaign Director focused on Housing at BCG convener, ACRE, as well as Holly Hook, a tenant leader at grassroots housing organization MHAction.

Private equity-owned housing is not a new problem, but these companies’ abusive behavior has become more widespread during the COVID-19 pandemic and disproportionately impacts low-income, Black and Brown tenants. Meanwhile, the millionaire and billionaire leaders of these firms continue to increase their wealth. All families deserve safe, stable, and affordable housing but we know corporate landlords prioritize profits over families’ wellbeing. 

The BCG network has been a leading voice highlighting the issues of private equity’s abuses in the housing market. Last year, BCG co-published a report, “Cashing in on Our Homes: Billionaire Landlords Profit as Millions Face Eviction,” with partners at the Institute for Policy Studies and the Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund. The report detailed the negative, outsized impact of private equity landlords on the lived realities of renters in the United States. 

The network continues to organize with tenant groups to highlight the abuses of corporate landlords. In Minnesota, BCG is supporting leaders at housing justice organization, Inquilinxs Unidxs Por Justicia (IX), who are confronting private equity landlord, Pretium Partners about the abhorrent, unsafe conditions families are enduring in the company’s homes. IX’s organizing led to several meetings with staff of Senators on the Senate Banking Committee. 

We encourage you to tune in this Thursday at 10am ET for the hearing, “How Private Equity Landlords are Changing the Housing Market,” at this link. You can submit testimony to the committee on the hearing topic up to one week after the hearing. If you are interested in submitting testimony and/or getting involved with BCG’s housing work, please contact BCG’s Research Director Sara Myklebust at sara.myklebust@georgetown.edu