The U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs held a panel listening session on February 8 addressing renters’ experiences with large corporate landlords and private equity firms. Committee Chair Sherrod Brown (D-OH) invited seven renters to discuss their experiences advocating for better living conditions with hard-to-reach landlord companies.
The renters invited to the session provided valuable perspectives. “The majority of us living here are from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, and almost all of us are immigrants,” said Juan Cuellar, a resident living in Hyattsville, MD. “The owners think that because we are immigrants, we are not important. For them, they want the money to arrive every month without doing anything for us. We have the lease to live in an apartment, but not live like this.” Steven Frishmuth, a renter who gained his apartment through a Section 8 voucher about a decade ago, remarked that “the families in my complex are now designated essential workers, and they need a renter’s Bill of Rights. Of course, all renters deserve a fair lease, honest services, accurate record keeping, fair collection, good cause eviction, and habitable conditions.”
The Committee also held a hearing, “How Institutional Landlords are Changing the Housing Market,” on February 10. Witnesses included Michael Waller (of Georgia Appleseed Center for Law and Justice), Aneta Molenda (a tenant living in New York), Tobias Peter (of the AEI Housing Center), Joel Griffith (of the Heritage Foundation), and Sally Martin (a director of building and housing in Cleveland, Ohio).
The witnesses offered useful insights concerning the impacts of large corporate landlords and private equity firms on renter experiences. “Institutional landlords increase their profits and reduce costs by refusing to perform needed repairs, just basic maintenance, security or needed health and safety measures, and this leaves tenants living in miserable living conditions,” said Michael Waller. “And it’s often virtually impossible to hold these landlords accountable. Out-of-state shell companies hide the owners. Tenant advocates and governments simply can’t identify them.”
“The eviction moratorium in New York ended just last month [and] my sense of security is gone,” said Brooklyn resident Aneta Molenda. “In talking to my neighbors and tenants in other buildings [owned] by the same landlord, we noticed similar patterns: massive rent increases, evictions, hazardous violations, and harassment. The confusing ownership structure makes it hard for tenants to know who truly owns our buildings.”
Watch the February 8 listening session at: tinyurl.com/mrxbk6h3
Watch the February 10 hearing at: tinyurl.com/2p9x3z2t