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Rent

Is Trump ‘Making America Affordable Again’?

February 28, 2025 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. , , , , , ,
US President Trump ran his campaign on a pledge to “make America affordable again,” following the inflationary crisis during Biden’s administration. But since the beginning of his presidency, the cost of living crisis, including the cost of staple grocery items and rent, has persisted. Peoples Dispatch spoke to economist Richard Wolff, who outlined that “prices are shaped by many factors, and only a few of those are under the control of any president.” “Trump did what American politicians usually do, which is take a cheap shot at his political enemies by blaming them for something bad going on in this case, inflation,” Wolff said.

Abolish Rent, Yes, For Real

January 28, 2025 Fran Quigley, Waging Nonviolence. , , , ,
The largest tenant union in the country is responding quickly and passionately to the devastation of the Los Angeles fires. The LA Tenants Union is demanding not just enforcement of existing California protections against price gouging of rental homes, but a moratorium on evictions and a rent freeze, all while tenants are coming together with heroic levels of mutual aid. But these steps will only mitigate a perpetual struggle, as union co-founders Tracy Rosenthal and Leonardo Vilchis write in their new book “Abolish Rent: How Tenants Can End the Housing Crisis.” “Why do tenants wake up every month and have to pay rent?” they ask.

How Federal Disaster Funding Can Slow Rent Increases

January 20, 2025 Robert Davis, Next City. , , , , , , ,
Coloradans often welcome rain storms with the refrain, “We need the moisture.” After the deadly floods in September 2013, many Coloradans sang a different tune. Over five days, a slow-moving storm covered some areas of the Front Range with up to 20 inches of rain. Overall, the floods killed 10 people, displaced 18,000, and caused more than $4 billion in damage to more than 17,000 structures, of which 1,882 were completely destroyed, according to the Colorado Division of Homeland Security & Emergency Management’s after-action report.

Real Estate Software Aided Price-Fixing ‘Cartel’ Among Property Companies

July 28, 2024 Tyler Walicek, Truthout. , , , ,
The rent is, infamously, too damn high. That refrain has such staying power because the United States’s noxious rent crisis has shown no signs of abating, with rents rising over 30 percent since 2019. All manner of ill effects have resulted; the rapid simultaneous growth of the homelessness crisis is no coincidence. Obfuscations aside, the correlation there is quite direct. But the origins of the rent and housing crisis itself can seem a bit more diffuse: perhaps some combination of shortages driven by lulls in development (though in truth, we don’t lack housing per se so much as we lack affordable, low-income housing).

First City-Wide Rent Reduction In The History Of New York Upheld

March 29, 2024 John Mage, Portside. , , , , ,
New York State’s Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 1974 permits the regulation of residential rents (“rent stabilization”) on the declaration of a housing emergency in New York City when the vacancy rate falls below 5%, or by similar declarations in municipalities in the suburban New York City counties of Nassau, Westchester and Rockland. A “Rent Guidelines Board” then has the power to set guidelines for rent adjustments. Today about half of all apartments in New York City are rent stabilized.

Missing From Biden’s State Of The Union: A Plan For The Rent Crisis

March 9, 2024 Tara Raghuveer, In These Times. , , ,
Demetrius Mosley works on trucks all day, assessing crash damage and fixing brakes on 18 wheelers. He earns $29 an hour. On the first of every month, he purchases a money order from a local Kroger store to pay his rent, the biggest bill in his budget. Mosley moved to Louisville, Kentucky three years ago with his four kids and their mom. The family rented a trailer in Pioneer Acres, a mobile home park. Rent was $885 per month. Since then, the owner has added fees and fines and hiked the rent to $1,100. He couldn’t afford to feed his kids, so he sent them to live with family in Florida.

Rent Going Up? One Company’s Algorithm Could Be Why

October 17, 2022 Heather Vogell, ProPublica. , , ,
On a summer day last year, a group of real estate tech executives gathered at a conference hall in Nashville to boast about one of their company’s signature products: software that uses a mysterious algorithm to help landlords push the highest possible rents on tenants. “Never before have we seen these numbers,” said Jay Parsons, a vice president of RealPage, as conventiongoers wandered by. Apartment rents had recently shot up by as much as 14.5%, he said in a video touting the company’s services. Turning to his colleague, Parsons asked: What role had the software played? “I think it’s driving it, quite honestly,” answered Andrew Bowen, another RealPage executive. “As a property manager, very few of us would be willing to actually raise rents double digits within a single month by doing it manually.”

How Activists Are Making The Right To Housing A Reality

October 8, 2022 Fran Quigley, Waging Nonviolence. , , ,
Apryl Lewis is in a housing fight — again. This time, she is pushing to keep dozens of families from being put out of a Charlotte extended-stay motel that is scheduled to be shut down in a matter of weeks. Such motels cost as much as $500 each week, expensive compared to long-term housing. But many of these families are living paycheck-to-paycheck or on fixed incomes, and have no other option. “They can’t afford the move-in costs for an apartment,” Lewis said. “Landlords want up-front rent and utilities and a security deposit. Now they are even making people pay for rental insurance.” Others stay at the motel because they are shut out of traditional housing due to a past eviction or criminal record. Some simply can’t find a suitable place to live in a time when rental vacancies are at historic lows.

3.8 Million Tenants In The US Could Be Evicted In The Next Two Months

September 1, 2022 People's Dispatch. , , , ,
The 3.8 million facing eviction is the tip of the iceberg. The Census Bureau also estimated that 8.5 million tenants are behind on their rent as the month of August comes to a close. Millions of people are behind on rent and facing eviction in part because of the soaring rent prices. In June of this year, median rents in the US topped a staggering $2,000 per month—the highest ever recorded. Renters across the country have seen rent increase by almost 25% since before the pandemic, with an increase of 15% in just the past 12 months, according to real estate marketplace company Zillow. Nearly half of renters have been hit with rent hikes. Rents have increased dramatically due to high inflation, which the people of the US cite as their top concern by a wide margin.

How Oakland Tenants Forced Their Landlord To Turn Over The Keys

September 1, 2022 Mathilde Lind Gustavussen, Jacobin. , , , ,
Oakland, California - When Maria Montes de Oca and her family moved into their apartment in the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland fourteen years ago, there were already problems. The apartment clearly hadn’t been maintained; the carpet was stained and damaged, and neither the stove nor the fridge worked. Later on, there were cockroach infestation and mold issues. When Maria tried to get the landlord, Calvin Wong, to carry out repairs or fumigate, he would ignore her requests or tell her he’d use her security deposit to pay for it — a practice that’s illegal in California. Yet in spite of the mounting maintenance and habitability issues, the rent kept going up.

Jacksonville Demands A Peoples Budget

August 19, 2022 Fight Back News. , , ,
Jacksonville, Florida - As the people of Jacksonville face rapidly increasing rent hikes and evictions, local organizers and residents rallied outside of City Hall on August 9. Before entering the city council meeting, they rallied and chanted, “Peoples Budget now!” “Make housing affordable,” and “Rent stabilization now!” After listening to speakers outside of city hall, many people spoke at the city council meeting, demanding a People’s Budget. The proposal from the Jacksonville Community Action Committee will reallocate funds from the inflated Jacksonville Sheriff's Office (JSO) budget back into the community. The People's Budget proposal focuses on Jacksonville’s city budget and reallocating funds because, under Mayor Curry, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office currently holds nearly 40% of the $1.4 billion budget.

There’s Only One State Where Falling Behind On Rent Could Mean Jail Time

March 21, 2021 Maya Miller, Ellis Simani and Benjamin Hardy, ProPublica. , , ,
Arkansas state Rep. Nicole Clowney, D-Fayetteville, introduced a bill Thursday that would repeal the state’s criminal “failure to vacate” statute. First enacted in 1901, the law allows landlords to seek criminal charges, which can result in jail time, for tenants who fall even a single day behind on rent and do not vacate a property within 10 days. Everywhere else in the U.S., evictions are exclusively a civil matter. The legislation comes after a ProPublica and Arkansas Nonprofit News Network article in October revealed how criminal charges brought under the statute can snowball into arrest warrants and jail time for tenants. A deputy county prosecutor who criticized the law, saying it essentially criminalizes poverty, was fired for his remarks.

Corporate Landlords Have Gotten Government Aid; Tenants Haven’t

August 15, 2020 Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, The Appeal. , , ,
The federal government has given millions of dollars to corporate landlords accused of inhumane eviction practices, poor maintenance of their buildings, and unfair rent increases.  These landlords received loans through the Paycheck Protection Program, billed as a means to help small businesses stay afloat during the pandemic. Borrowers don’t have to pay back the loan if it is used for payroll, interest on mortgages, rent, and utilities.  But some of those companies were corporate landlords accused of mistreating their tenants.

While Pushing Big Oil Bailouts, Trump Slaps Wind And Solar With $50 Million In Old Rent Bills

May 19, 2020 Julia Conley, Commondreams. , , ,
While giving fossil fuel companies access to relief funds ostensibly meant for small businesses struggling due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Trump administration on Monday slapped solar and wind power firms with retroactive rent bills dating back two years. The Interior Department is demanding rent payments from renewable energy companies operating on federal lands, two years after it suspended rent for the operators as it investigated whether the Obama administration had charged too much. The administration plans to collect $50 million in rent this year from 96 companies operating on federal property—the same amount of money that a recent report showed is going to fossil fuel companies in loans through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

April 25: National Day Of Car Protests To Cancel The Rents

April 24, 2020 Cancel The Rents. , , ,
On Saturday, April 25th cities and towns around the country will mobilize to demand: A national cancellation of all rents, mortgages for homeowners, small landlords, and small businesses, for the duration of the Pandemic.  The patchwork of city and state moratoriums on evictions is not enough. In a few months when these moratoriums are lifted and the rents come due -- we will still not have the money! Join thousands of people across the country in car caravan protests on Saturday, April 25 to demand the cancellation of rent and all debts to landlords for the duration of the pandemic. 
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