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The doorknobs were busted again. But this time Arianna Anderson鈥檚 son was trapped in the bathroom. Out of desperation, she called the fire department, which came and busted down the door, freeing her son.

鈥淣ine out of 10 times I call the landlord, HavenBrook Homes, for a repair, they don鈥檛 come,鈥� said Anderson, who lives with her fianc茅 and children in a single-family house in North Minneapolis. 鈥淚鈥檝e learned how to fix things myself watching YouTube videos. When they do send someone, it鈥檚 some Craigslist contractor that does a half-baked job.鈥�

In North Minneapolis, the corporate landlord HavenBrook Homes owns 215 single-family homes, scattered over dozens of residential blocks. Altogether, HavenBrook owns 265 homes in Hennepin County and more than 500 homes across Minnesota, with the highest concentration in a couple of Twin City neighborhoods.

鈥淲e found there were four or five HavenBrook rental homes on a single block, but the neighbors didn鈥檛 know they had the same landlord,鈥� said Chloe Jackson, a veteran organizer with Inquilinxs Unidxs Por Justicia/United Renters for Justice. 鈥淥ne of the first things we did was map HavenBrook鈥檚 ownership and connect tenants to one another.鈥�

Through Inquilinxs鈥� organizing, neighbors discovered they had many of the same challenges with an unresponsive corporate landlord at a company owned by remote investors. They came together to press the owners and local officials to ensure maintenance gets done. Organizing tenants of an absentee corporate landlord during a pandemic has its challenges, but Jackson and her co-workers are undeterred.

鈥淭hanks to United Renters, I met my neighbors who also had HavenBrook as their landlord,鈥� said Anderson, who has been a HavenBrook tenant since October 2014, but hadn鈥檛 met many of her neighbors. 鈥淒uring the pandemic we鈥檝e exchanged phone numbers, had Zoom meetings two times a month, and talked together with state and city officials.鈥� 

鈥淕etting people together so they can hear each other鈥檚 stories was our first step,鈥� Jackson explained. 鈥淪o many people feel alone facing their housing challenges. Our role was to help educate these tenants about their legal rights and remind them that they have power together.鈥�

Organizers went door-to-door, talking to more than 150 North Minneapolis tenants and finding that more than 35% of residents reported issues with water leaks, plumbing, and damage; nearly a quarter reported pest infestation; and one in 10 have problems with black mold or mildew.

鈥淭here are so many things wrong with this house,鈥� said Anderson, texting the authors shocking pictures of black mold and cracked ceilings. 鈥淚 have a son with asthma, so the mold problem is a big problem, along with leaking ceiling, insect infestations, nails coming through floors, and missing insulation. And it is cold in the Minnesota winter!鈥�

鈥淭he place badly needs an electrical upgrade and I鈥檓 terrified we might have an electrical fire,鈥� she said. 鈥淪ometimes I leave for a doctor鈥檚 visit and the older kids, one who is 18, are watching the younger ones鈥攖hey can鈥檛 come to the doctor鈥檚 during the pandemic. Every time, I remind them of what to do in a fire. But it is nerve-racking.鈥�

Billionaire Landlords Consolidate Ownership as Eviction Crisis Looms

In 2018, HavenBrook Homes was purchased by Front Yard Residential, an investor group based in the Virgin Islands. Then, in 2020, Front Yard was acquired for $2.5 billion by Pretium Partners and Ares Management. Ares is a group of private equity investors co-founded by billionaire Anthony Ressler, who also is the brother-in-law of Leon Black of Apollo Capital.

The founder and CEO of Pretium Partners is Don Mullen Jr., who attained global notoriety as the subject of the book and film, The Big Short. Mullen, when he was head of mortgage and credit investments at Goldman Sachs, made substantial bets that the housing market would burst, even as the firm urged customers to continue fueling the housing bubble. Mullen was credited with organizing other Goldman Sachs鈥� colleagues to short the market鈥攚hat became known as 鈥渢he big short鈥濃�攅xhorting them that they 鈥渨ill make some serious money.鈥� Now Mullen is betting that millions of people, many of whom lost their homes in the 2008-2009 economic meltdown, will be permanently stuck in rental housing.

This example of consolidation is part of a larger trend, as ownership of rental properties shifts from local owners to national corporate giants鈥攚ho have expanded into the single-family home rental market. Private equity conglomerates ranging from Blackstone to Apollo Capital believe there is money to be made by snatching up single-family homes, often in foreclosure, and renting to the growing segment of the population that is locked out of homeownership. Managing and maintaining these properties鈥攁nd dealing with the fact that there are real human beings living in them as homes鈥攊s just another cost to be squeezed.

As a national tenant eviction moratorium imposed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is set to expire on March 31, 2021, the role of billionaire landlords is getting dramatic attention. A new report, 鈥�,鈥� focused on 20 billionaire landlords and real estate investors鈥攊ncluding the owners of HavenBrook Homes鈥攚hose wealth totals $194 billion, with their wealth increasing $21.2 billion over the year of the pandemic. According to the report, which was co-authored by Bargaining For the Common Good, the Institute for Policy Studies, and the Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, these 20 corporate landlords control nearly 2 million units of rental housing, roughly 4% of the nation鈥檚 rental housing stock.聽聽

These billionaire landlords鈥攎any of whose companies have received federal government assistance in the form of low-cost financing to buy or build developments鈥攁re receiving financial support from the coronavirus relief package, sometimes while continuing to file eviction notices against their tenants. According to the report, the 20 companies profiled have pursued at least 3,152 evictions in just 29 counties in eight states where the data is easily accessible鈥攅ven during the pandemic eviction moratorium. The number nationwide is likely to be many-fold higher. The report includes data showing that nearly one in 10 Black and Latinx renter households face imminent eviction, twice as high as White renter families.

These 20 corporate landlords are also poised to further consolidate their ownership with an estimated $245 billion in 鈥渃ash on hand鈥濃�攚hat the private equity barons call 鈥渄ry powder鈥濃�攖o expand their rental property ownership during the coming years. As the report observes, 鈥淟eaders and owners of corporate landlords are openly delighting in plans to profit once millions of Americans are evicted, seeing housing as an 鈥榦pportunity sector鈥� where they can extract more wealth for investors and themselves. They are poised to profit from the pandemic economic downturn much as they capitalized on the 2008 financial crisis and mortgage meltdown, with plans to buy up more real estate and increase their stranglehold over the residential housing market.鈥�

The report echoes solutions put forward by housing groups around the country. Lawmakers should continue eviction moratoriums while putting in place a more comprehensive housing policy to protect low-income tenants and transition more of the nation鈥檚 rental stock to nonprofit ownership. Some recommendations are focused on the discouraging large-scale corporate ownership, such as what tenants are experiencing at HavenBrook Homes.

One innovative proposal is to create an excise tax on large corporate landlords, modeled after the legislation currently under consideration in California legislature. Companies 鈥渉ave the responsibility鈥攁nd more than enough resources鈥攖o protect our communities during this pandemic. They need to put our health and safety before their greed,鈥� the 鈥淐ashing In鈥� report says. Policymakers 鈥渕ust start to rebuild housing systems in this country using innovative strategies that center families of color and make clear that housing is the human right that this pandemic has made clear it should be.鈥�

Absentee Landlords: MIA

For tenants in HavenBrook Homes, one challenge is 鈥渨ho do you call when there is a possum living in your wall?鈥� Or worse, when your pipes freeze or your electricity goes out.

鈥淭enants call or visit the office and it feels like each week there is someone new there. During COVID-19 there is no one there, so they might be told to call an 800 number for Front Yard, with someone answering the phone in Atlanta,鈥� said organizer Chloe Jackson. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not like a local landlord, where you show up at their house and demand action. There is no local face of the owner.鈥�

鈥淲hen it comes to repairs, HavenBrook is often missing in action,鈥� said Jackson. 鈥淥ne tenant had no water for a week and another went weeks without heat. Another had a giant hole open up in their ceiling. Another鈥檚 stove caught fire. These are emergency situations, yet HavenBrook wouldn鈥檛 make repairs.鈥�

鈥淗avenBrook is only reachable when the rent is due, but not when repairs are needed,鈥� said Shanika Henderson, who has been a tenant in a HavenBrook single-family home for seven years. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 get a hold of anyone. I鈥檝e got vents that kick up dust when they run and stifling heat in the summer.鈥�

鈥淪ometimes I feel helpless and hopeless,鈥� Henderson said. Through United Renters for Justice she met neighbors on her block who are in the same boat. She has joined conference calls with city councilors. 鈥淓veryone deserves a right to proper housing, no matter what your family situation is.鈥�

Tenants, with support from Inquilinxs Unidxs, have documented the problems, called the city, filed complaints, and testified before city councilors to enlist their support. City records show that FYR/HavenBrook Homes has received more than 200 citations for violating city laws in North Minneapolis since 2018.

Tenants reported that in some cases the company has taken up to a year to complete needed repairs that pose a threat to both residents and the property. These delinquent upkeep issues have included holes in roofs and ceilings, broken outdoor and indoor stairways that have caused injuries, lead paint鈥攊ncluding where children are present鈥攆looding that has caused substantial water damage to properties, and pest infestations such as spiders, ants, and mice.

鈥淎nother ridiculous HavenBrook thing is you have to pay money to pay your rent,鈥� said Jackson. 鈥淭hey direct you to pay your rent through an online portal where a vendor charges you $10 to $30 each time you process your rent payment. These are the kind of fees we are organizing to get HavenBrook to eliminate.鈥�

鈥淲e get all these weird fees,鈥� echoed tenant Adrianna Anderson. 鈥�$10 administration fee. $17 processing fee. And a new $12 鈥楬AP鈥� fee鈥攚e don鈥檛 even know what that is!鈥�

For billionaire landlords and their private equity firms, buying and selling these real estate companies is like playing a game of three-dimensional chess. Tenant organizations that are building power, like Inquilinxs Unidxs Por Justicia, are changing the game.

CORRECTION: This article was amended at 3:20 p.m., March 17, 2021, to include the names of two co-authors of the “Cashing In” report. An earlier version omitted their names. Read our corrections policy here.

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Chuck Collins is the director of the program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies where he co-edits Inequality.org. His new book is, The Wealth Hoarders: How Billionaires Pay Millions to Hide Trillions, is about the wealth hiding industry (Polity). Here's the link to his book: https://politybooks.com/bookdetail/?isbn=9781509543489 Connect:

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