The COVID-19 pandemic put life on hold for most of us. One aspect of life that continued, however, was the need for housing. While in some cities rent was waived temporarily, and for a while costs went down, from 2021-2022 the cost of housing soared all across the country to an all-time high!
The reason for this, however, isn’t what you might expect.
Throughout the pandemic, corporate investors were buying up multi-family real estate properties in droves. In the first quarter of 2022 alone, investors spent a whopping $63 billion on apartment buildings, according to the Wall Street Journal.
As the pandemic continued, however, they didn’t make the kinds of profits they hoped for. In order to compensate for their losses, they’ve been raising the rent on the buildings they own!
Americans are now paying an increase of 17% more per month for rent compared to 2021.
Considering that Black Americans also pay higher security deposits and application fees for rental units, according to a report from Zillow, our community is feeling these increases worse than most.
American economic policy encourages investors to make these types of risky buys. This puts many of us at risk of being temporarily displaced, and will also increase homelessness as the host of housing becomes even more unattainable.