Columbus' corporate landlord problem
An anonymous activist gives a ground-eye view of the ongoing crunch in Central Ohio
Today is a special dispatch from Marcel Toulouse, a volunteer for the Central Ohio Housing Action Network.
Freelance dispatches like this are made possible by the brave and noble subscribers to The Rooster.
In 2020, I started volunteering weekly with the Central Ohio Housing Action Network, a local cadre of caring citizens, to deliver informational door hangers to Columbus neighbors threatened with eviction.
Over the course of four years, I have worn out a couple of pairs of shoes; I’ve seen a lot of the city, and I’ve met many kind people. I hope I’m helping tenants know they have rights, too.
I deliver 20-30 door hangers per week—a small, small fraction of all the eviction actions in Franklin County. Evictions in Franklin County hit a 20-year high in April with experts saying the trend will get worse before it gets better.
I’ve noticed connections between institutional landlords (especially new purchases) and evictions. 5812 Investment Group LLC and Coastal Ridge Real Estate are two of the most prominent examples.
I’m also starting to see VineBrook (aka VB and many other variations) with more evictions, too.
These are the most cutthroat landlords/property managers imaginable. I have seen standing water inside a laundry room; so many stairs that are unsafe; and pervasive overall dilapidation and neglect.
They are in it to extract as much money as possible with no concern for the human beings in their units.
Along with being a faithful volunteer, I’m also an information nerd.
I subscribe to The Daily Reporter, which includes all manner of legal news, including real estate transfers (with real data about buyers/sellers and purchase details, unlike the weak shit The Columbus Dispatch now publishes). And court records, including marriage licenses and divorces, probate information, appeals summaries. I try to stay abreast of what goes on, you know?
In March of this year, I opened the printed paper to the real estate transfers page and I literally gasped.
An ENTIRE page was properties sold to VineBrook Homes or some affiliated outfit.
"By 2040, they were talking about 40%-50% of single-family homes in this country would be owned by corporate landlords," Ohio State Senator Louis Blessing (R-Colerain Twp.) told ABC6 last year. "I find that deeply disturbing."
Does anyone believe it’s a good idea for an institutional investor to buy so much (affordable) housing stock?
It’s so big I couldn’t even screenshot the whole thing, but here’s a sample:
I am glad the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Agency (CMHA) is getting back into the ownership game with apartments at Magnolia Trace in Northeast Columbus and Waldren Woods on the East Side,
More of this!
Also, we need to repair the former Latitude 58/Sawyer Manor. Like the whole metro area, that location is begging for quality affordable housing.
We have a crisis in this city and a city government that is too beholden to developers and moneyed interests to address it.
And finally, as if we needed proof of where landlords’ interests lie, get a load of Preferred Living and their big fucking Trump flag on the West Side:
I have a one finger salute for them too.
THOSE WMDs. The auto worker who couldn’t stay in the closet… The real story of the crisis at The Washington Post… It started as an animal re-homing project and ended with a bear on trial for murder… What companies get wrong after spending $60 billion on leadership development… Please clean your gas grill
Wait!!! Our Treasurer Bobby Sprague and our Auditir Phat Keith Fabre both blame the housing crisis on inflation caused by Bidenomics!!! Now they wouldn’t lie would they????
A little research reveals that Vinebrook is a REIT, “real estate investment trust”. It appears to be planning to go public and issue stock. In their pitch to potential investors they boast that they specialize in “workforce housing.” Kinda sounds like a dark ages model of extracting wealth from the serfs and other beholden subjects. Among the rodents serving on their board are Arthur Laffer, a fossil from the Reagan administration, and Carol Swain, a reliable lackey for plutocrats and their agendas. They are legally required to file detailed financial documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As of yet, they do not need to report the executive compensation of management. We’ll keep watching, however.