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*87 percent of multifamily housing is owned by corporations and trusts
After news broke that the San Mateo County Elections Office backed off a rent control proposal from the November ballot, and rent prices have skyrocketed, a new report suggests that corporate multifamily owners are driving such unsustainable prices in Redwood City.
A report released Thursday by the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project reveals that 87 percent of multi-family housing in Redwood City is now owned by corporations and real estate investment trusts.
The analysis details that these corporate landlords, especially those with larger property portfolios, are charging higher rents and increasing them more quickly compared to the small number of small landlords.
The most affected by this type of practice are the elderly, families and essential workers.
“Out-of-town corporate landlords care most about their profits,” said Amelia Garibay, a leader of the Bay Area Faith in Action organization, which has led the effort to put rent control on the November ballot.
“We care about keeping Redwood City affordable and making sure everyone has a decent place to live,” he added.
The report shows that out of a total of 12,030 multifamily units in Redwood City, only 187 are owned by local “mom and pop” owners, while the 20 largest owners own more than 5,116 multifamily rental units in Redwood City, more than 40 percent of the city’s total.
“Out-of-town, larger-scale or corporate landlords may be more likely to view their rentals as business investments and be motivated to maximize profits regardless of community impact,” the report said.
Real estate funds with large portfolios based outside of Redwood City have been particularly quick to raise rents, an average of 17.4 percent over three years, he said.
“The report shows that large-scale corporate landlords dominate the rental market and charge the highest rents, which is driving up rents overall,” said Dan Sakaguchi, one of the report’s authors.
He added that corporate landlords not only own the majority of Redwood City’s apartments, but “are actually driving the city’s affordability crisis.”
It is worth noting that some neighborhoods in Redwood City are more affected than others.
Communities like Friendly Acres and East Woodside Road are highly vulnerable, with more than 1,000 corporate-owned units now in the area and rents in those two areas having increased by more than 9 percent in the past three years.
“Small, family-owned landlords are important because they keep rents reasonable and keep families stable,” said Martha Beetley, a Redwood City homeowner and a Bay Area leader for Faith in Action.
“I was shocked to see that they now own less than 2.0 percent of our rental units. Corporate landlords who own properties across the country don’t have much interest in our community.”
According to Zillow Rental Data, the average apartment rent now exceeds $3,250 per month.
In addition, many tenants are also being forced out due to mistreatment by landlords, including harassment and uninhabitable living conditions.
More than half of Redwood City residents are renters. According to the Bay Area Equity Atlas, since 2000, rents have grown twice as fast as renters’ incomes, leading to renters being more likely to live in rent-burdened or overcrowded homes than the average San Mateo County renter.
The report highlights that in the Latino community, 60 percent of households are rent-burdened, including 31 percent who pay more than half of their income on housing, putting them at serious risk of displacement.
She also notes that older adults who have lived in Redwood City for decades are also disproportionately affected, as 75 percent of the city's 6,600 senior households are low-income.
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