Financialization

“We have seen corporate landlords—who own a larger share of the rental market than ever before—use inflation as an excuse to hike rents and reap excess profits beyond what should be considered fair and reasonable.”

Reaction to the housing crisis in California has led to a series of gains for tenants, including a new Renters’ Caucus.

Avian flu gave companies cover to price gouge. Could the attention to lack of housing supply do the same for landlords?

Tenant organizing in Baltimore today is building on a rich legacy of tenant resistance in the city where residential redlining made its debut.

Background explainers, affordability restrictions, and race and belonging topped the list of our most-read pieces of the year.

Some leases plainly contradict state law or include questionable, punitive, or egregiously anti-tenant clauses.

Shelterforce recently hosted a conversation about how to fight, and win, against corporate landlords and their extractive business models. Watch the video or read the transcript.

As more and more affordable homes are gobbled up by corporate landlords, prospective Black homebuyers are seeing opportunities for homeownership dry up.

It’s difficult to know who owns a property because corporate landlords and investors tend to structure their business as limited liability companies, or LLCs.

There’s a reason land ownership is a matter of public record—but at the moment the records we have aren’t actually doing the job.

Over the last two decades homeowners and investors have increasingly treated housing as a financial asset, like stocks or bonds. How has this changed the housing market for the worse, and how can we fix it?

It’s a wonky term with real-life consequences. At its most basic level, the “financialization of housing” means treating a home like a financial asset first, and a place to live second. But there are many more perspectives.