We investigate the rise of large corporate landlords and linkages to eviction, gentrification and displacement. Current research, funded by the Housing Crisis Research Collaborative at the Urban Institute, examines large corporate landlords’ investment patterns in Tampa, Miami and Atlanta during the pandemic.
In a report released this month, we find that trading platforms, rent-to-own investors, large corporate single family rental firms increased purchases in these three southeastern cities during the pandemic. These firms focused on low-poverty Black and non-white Hispanic neighborhoods, areas that were hardest hit by COVID19 and areas with the greatest housing instability risk. You can read the report here, and results specific to Atlanta here.
In adjacent work funded by the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation, we are examining the impact of Opportunity Zone tax credit incentives on investment in single family rentals.
In collaborative work with Professor Lauren Sudeall at the Center for the Access to Justice and Professor Phil Garboden at the University of Hawai’i, we are conducting mixed-methods research on how COVID19 eviction prevention policies are mediated by the strategic decisions of landlords and courts personnel. This research is funded by the Russell Sage Foundation.
Other research examines how storm recovery proceeds through real estate finance and housing systems. One recent publication show evictions rise after hurricanes in states with weak legal protections. Ongoing collaborations with partners at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, University of Puerto Rico, and Centro Para Una Nuevo Economía examines the role of FEMA recovery processes on displacement from and within Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.
Southeastern Evictions Data Collective
In collaboration with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and the Atlanta Regional Commission, we produced an evictions data tracker for Macon, Atlanta, and Savannah, GA. A visualization of the data can be seen in the eviction tracker section of this site. The database compiles the legal paper trail of evictions cases in eight counties. It was created during the pandemic to serve data needs of legal aid, tenant organizer, and rental assistance providers in Georgia. Access to tract level and anonymized case level data APIs are freely available; raw data is available upon request.
Pacific Islanders, Housing and Land
Pacific Islanders are indigenous to the United States, but often experience high housing instability and precarity. In a series of research projects, we explore how Pacific Islanders navigate pressures of displacement and dispossession from housing and land. We also examine the financialization of customary land through Asian Development Bank projects, and linkages to the experiences of customary land owners in the diaspora.