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"Arrived"- an Investment company that undermines affordable housing

Sue Gemmell
 

I stumbled across an ad for Arrived, a company backed by Jeff Bezos, that enables small investors to buy rental homes (not big apartment buildings) by buying shares "from $100 to $50,000 per property." The ad was in a budget travel newsletter. I'm aware that private equity firms are investing in the rental market. (See also: the in-depth reporting by ProPublica "When Private Equity is Your Landlord)." 

"Well, what we saw was very steep rent increases and also a decline in the services that are being provided to tenants. And that’s sort of euphemistic sounding. But what I’m talking about are basic repairs, repairs to appliances, for instance, and maintenance of common areas, security, things that are necessary for people to live comfortable, quality lives, essentially."

(Corporations claim they bring the capital for improvements and needed repairs)

The "Arrived" model seems to amplify problem. 

Some thoughts - and I'd love to hear from the group, that's why I'm posting:
What kind of additional regulation might be needed?
Could nonprofits use a similar model to create affordable housing? How? 

Paul Rippey
 

I don't think there is any easy solution to this kind of situation in a capitalist state where congress and municipal governments consistently vote against what their constituents want, and vote for what their donors want. Charles Eisenstein in a recent essay said that the solution was passing laws making renting property illegal. That's a big jump from where we are now, but it's the direction we need to go. Whenever any basic necessity is treated as a commodity, the rich will get richer. People MUST HAVE housing. Most house sales in Portland are cash, which usually means that they are investments by rich people. Portland has a housing shortage even though our population decreased in the last year. End of story. 

On Wed, Dec 28, 2022 at 10:19 AM Sue Gemmell <sue@...> wrote:

I stumbled across an ad for Arrived, a company backed by Jeff Bezos, that enables small investors to buy rental homes (not big apartment buildings) by buying shares "from $100 to $50,000 per property." The ad was in a budget travel newsletter. I'm aware that private equity firms are investing in the rental market. (See also: the in-depth reporting by ProPublica "When Private Equity is Your Landlord)." 

"Well, what we saw was very steep rent increases and also a decline in the services that are being provided to tenants. And that’s sort of euphemistic sounding. But what I’m talking about are basic repairs, repairs to appliances, for instance, and maintenance of common areas, security, things that are necessary for people to live comfortable, quality lives, essentially."

(Corporations claim they bring the capital for improvements and needed repairs)

The "Arrived" model seems to amplify problem. 

Some thoughts - and I'd love to hear from the group, that's why I'm posting:
What kind of additional regulation might be needed?
Could nonprofits use a similar model to create affordable housing? How? 

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