A new study by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) exposes predatory eviction practices by major corporate landlords disproportionately targeting Black tenants in Los Angeles, highlighting three of the largest landlords in the U.S. that are identified as leading offenders. The report highlights how these companies exploit vulnerable tenants while actively opposing rent control and tenant protections in California.
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Targeted Evictions on Black Tenants
The ULCA researcher Alexander Ferrer identified “landlords’ surgical and deeply disproportionate eviction of Black tenants from neighborhoods with few Black residents.” Ferrer added, “Innovations in corporate practice in screening and eviction, which responded to the risk and regulatory environment of the pandemic, further contributed to saddling these Black tenants with disproportionate rent debt, redoubling the extirpative character of Black tenancy.” Corporate landlords have found that predatory business practices against Black tenants are a way to make outsized profits.
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Emerging Predatory Strategy
According to The American Prospect, Ferrer found an “emerging strategy” where corporate landlords relax screening and offer low security deposits to “attract precarious Black tenants into desirable neighborhoods.” They then charge high utility fees alongside high rents and evict Black tenants quickly when payments lapse. Ferrer told The American Prospect, “The most sophisticated landlords in the market have shifted toward a strategy of lower stringency in screening, higher turnover rates, and more frequent evictions in exchange for higher average rents. It’s more profitable.”
Key Offenders Named
The study highlights three as the worst offenders of these predatory practices in the L.A. Equity Residential, Essex Property Trust, and AvalonBay Communities as the worst offenders of these predatory practices in the L.A. area. All three corporate landlords have a long history of financing the California Apartment Association’s (CAA) anti-tenant efforts, including killing expansions of rent control in California.
Political Financing Against Tenants
Equity Residential, AvalonBay Communities, and Essex Property Trust have contributed millions to the CAA’s political action committees, influencing politicians and defeating tenant protections throughout California. They were among the top contributors opposing ballot measures in 2018, 2020, and 2024 aimed at ending statewide rent control restrictions, initiatives sponsored by AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s Housing Is A Human Right…