How to Research Your Wall Street Landlord: Participatory Action Research Guide

In May of 2015, Tenants Together released a report on our survey of California tenants living in properties owned and managed by the state's largest Wall Street landlords: Blackstone/Invitation Homes (over 5,000 homes in California in early 2015), Waypoint Homes (approximately 2,500 homes), and Colony American Homes (approximately 2,000 homes).

We Need Your Help:

Tenants Together reported evidence that Wall Street landlords charge higher than median rents and put the burdens of homeownership on tenants (making tenants do maintenance & repairs), while tenants get none of the benefits. However, only 75 of the 7500 tenants we reached out to completed our survey. Our initial findings raised red flags, but we need more data in order to make a stronger policy case for change.

Many of the homes rented by Wall Street landlords are in cities without rent control, however, even if these cities had rent control state law would prevent their tenants from being protected. State law Costa Hawkins Rental Housing Act exempts condos, single-family homes and homes built after 1995 from being included in a rent control law. Wall Street specifically targeted these kinds of homes where profits are unregulated. We need to organize tenants that live in these homes to stand up to Wall Street landlords and change the policies that allow them to reap unlimited profits at the expense of our communities. You can help us reach out to tenants renting single-family homes in your community by conducting a participatory action research project on the role of big investment companies in the rental market.

 

Developed by: Aimee Inglis, Program Manager, Tenants Together

Editors: Dean Preston, Executive Director, Tenants Together and Janine Nkosi, Sociology Lecturer, Cal State University Fresno

Made possible with funding by The San Francisco Foundation

Help build power for renters' rights: