Boston guy who works full time but can't afford rent kicked out of shelter in favor migrants

[Matt4Liberty]

When Standard Oil or AT&T were broken up, nothing was stolen or confiscated. They just sold off assets to break the monopolies and it increased competition. Everything was still all privately owned. If Google got broken up would you think that was communist? Someone who owns their own house, plus a rental property, can own a grocery store, a gas station, a strip mall, an office building, an airline, a hospital and on and on. My point is that to allow oligarchs to corner the available housing stock will lead to communism. Look at the UK where it's full of council housing. I don't want government owned low income housing where I live and if too many people are priced out of the housing market there will be a demand for it. Oligarchies and communism go hand in hand, as does absurd disparity of wealth. You end up with the upper class, lower class and no middle. I agree with you about the Fed but that's a far bigger problem to tackle than local restrictions on property monopolies. With the Fed you're talking about an entrenched global financial system.

You're leaving a couple big details out. When Standard oil was broken up, John Rockefeller retained his full ownership of the new new separate oil companies. He actually became even more rich because now he owned 35 oil companies instead of one. The mess that the oil business in the US became afterwards is far from some major success. I'm sure there are others on here that can way better explain the many regulatory problems that started after standard oil was split, so I won't. The one thing that can be said though, private property rights remained as there was no forced ownership change.

AT&T was even dumber. Their monopoly privileges were a result of them being a "utility". It's a problem with most utilities. Somehow we allow monopoly privileges so that there's one"reliable" provider instead of multiple competitors competing against each other. The only thing that needed to happen to allow competition was for it to allow competition. It wasn't the divergence of the "baby bells" but finally having other long distance providers like Sprint and MCI popup that allowed for prices to drop. Once reliable broadband Internet and cell phones became the norm, the cost for telephone service became an afterthought.

Google along with the other FAANG companies are in their positions because of the partnerships they formed with the government, becoming a defacto government agencies. There's so much wrong there, that conversation has nothing to do with private property and capitalism. There's also affordable competitors to each of Google's services. The problem isn't that they are a monopoly but their cozy relationship with the feds.

Private ownership will not lead to council housing. What will is the likely coming bailout of "too big to fail" landlords. Blackrocks BREIT etf is already showing tremendous losses and the the prices are just starting to drop. They're going to continue unless the Fed prints a bunch of money to bail them out. In a free market you need failure to cleanse the malinvestment. When the REPO market was starting to collapse in the fall of 2019, the real estate prices were also dropping. It wasn't until summer 2020 when things exploded because of the money printing bailing the markets out.

 

[susano]

You're leaving a couple big details out. When Standard oil was broken up, John Rockefeller retained his full ownership of the new new separate oil companies. He actually became even more rich because now he owned 35 oil companies instead of one. The mess that the oil business in the US became afterwards is far from some major success. I'm sure there are others on here that can way better explain the many regulatory problems that started after standard oil was split, so I won't. The one thing that can be said though, private property rights remained as there was no forced ownership change.

AT&T was even dumber. Their monopoly privileges were a result of them being a "utility". It's a problem with most utilities. Somehow we allow monopoly privileges so that there's one"reliable" provider instead of multiple competitors competing against each other. The only thing that needed to happen to allow competition was for it to allow competition. It wasn't the divergence of the "baby bells" but finally having other long distance providers like Sprint and MCI popup that allowed for prices to drop. Once reliable broadband Internet and cell phones became the norm, the cost for telephone service became an afterthought.

Google along with the other FAANG companies are in their positions because of the partnerships they formed with the government, becoming a defacto government agencies. There's so much wrong there, that conversation has nothing to do with private property and capitalism. There's also affordable competitors to each of Google's services. The problem isn't that they are a monopoly but their cozy relationship with the feds.

Private ownership will not lead to council housing. What will is the likely coming bailout of "too big to fail" landlords. Blackrocks BREIT etf is already showing tremendous losses and the the prices are just starting to drop. They're going to continue unless the Fed prints a bunch of money to bail them out. In a free market you need failure to cleanse the malinvestment. When the REPO market was starting to collapse in the fall of 2019, the real estate prices were also dropping. It wasn't until summer 2020 when things exploded because of the money printing bailing the markets out.

Thanks for all of that. You make a great point on too big to fail and you know these massive financial operations will get bailed out if their losses become too great. Doesn't it seem like preventing such monopolies, in the first place, would prevent that?

I'm not saying that private ownership would lead to council housing. I'm saying that monopolies will. I am pro private ownership but oppose monopolies and oligarchy - and these are oligarchies as much as the tech billionaires are.

I also don't care how rich anyone is. I just don't want to see a few corporations or individuals own and control all of one vital sector, be that housing, or farmland or hospitals - the last two already being threatened with someone like Gates buying farmland and the consolidation happening with hospitals. Jeez, look at what happened with media. It was when Bill Clinton was president that the law preventing consolidation of media was abandoned. Do you recall that? I think that that guy Ron whats-his-name, who was killed in the plane crash but reported to have really been shot in the head, was reported as opposing the Clintons on that. Not sure if that was true but it was a conspiracy theory, at the time.

 

[Snowball]

I am for public utilities to be owned and managed by the public.

Bill payers already subsidize millions who cannot pay their bills via higher rates and charges. There are literally tens of thousands of homes that do not pay a dime while homes 5 minutes away pay for them - and the conduit is the power company. The power company also subsidizes commericial and industrial who receive lower (much lower) rates than residential customers who get the shaft.

If it were up to me, all utilities would be owned by the communities they serve. No middleman. No private ownerships of such essential needs.

 

[Invisible Man]

I am for public utilities to be owned and managed by the public.

How?

Usually when people say they want something to be owned by the public, what they really mean by "the public" is "the state."

 

[Snowball]

How?

Usually when people say they want something to be owned by the public, what they really mean by "the public" is "the state."

You can click on any state here:

https://www.publicpower.org/where-public-power

 

[oyarde]

How?

Usually when people say they want something to be owned by the public, what they really mean by "the public" is "the state."

i guess in a utility it could be a co op owned by customers but it would probably need to start like it

 

[oyarde]

utilities are kind of unique in competition isnt quite cost effective leaving customers at mercy of poor management , like govt

 

[Anti Federalist]

I am for public utilities to be owned and managed by the public.

Bill payers already subsidize millions who cannot pay their bills via higher rates and charges. There are literally tens of thousands of homes that do not pay a dime while homes 5 minutes away pay for them - and the conduit is the power company. The power company also subsidizes commericial and industrial who receive lower (much lower) rates than residential customers who get the shaft.

If it were up to me, all utilities would be owned by the communities they serve. No middleman. No private ownerships of such essential needs.

How?

Usually when people say they want something to be owned by the public, what they really mean by "the public" is "the state."

That is what I have in the small NH town I live in.

We were one of the first to electrify over a century ago, and the grid was isolated and only served the town.

Years later, the grid and town co-op remain but we now buy power in futures blocks on the wholesale market to power the grid.

But maintenance, expansion, upgrades and emergency service is all local, paid for by service users.

But there is no profit to be made, it breaks even every year.

Our rates, which in NH are expensive compared to the rest of the country, are some of the lowest in the state.

No problem with public or private co-ops such as this, especially when providing a needed service that cannot be easily or practically be competed against.

 

[acptulsa]

https://twitter.com/WallStreetApes/status/1768633515451797864

 

[acptulsa]

https://twitter.com/WallStreetApes/status/1774991726593327523

 

[acptulsa]

 

[acptulsa]

 

[susano]

On May 22, 2024, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) conducted an unannounced raid of national apartment operator Cortland Management as part of a ramped-up investigation into rental price fixing.

The main target of this investigation is RealPage, a Texas-based company that provides suggestions for rent increases based on its YieldStar software.

Rent increases suggested by the YieldStar algorithm are based not on demand but rather on data collected from landlords. And for one example, rents in Atlanta, GA, are going up despite higher vacancy rates.

Could one company be the reason for soaring rent prices across the U.S.?

And if rent increases for the vast majority of apartments across the country are based on that one company’s software recommendations rather than rental demand, what are the implications for shelter inflation measures?

While the answers to these questions probably won’t factor into next week’s FOMC meeting and the timing of the next Fed rate cut, a possible collusion between corporate landlords and a company that keeps rents climbing faster than demand is still a very big deal.

This is why, on May 22, 2024, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) conducted an unannounced raid on national apartment operator Cortland Management. The raid was part of a ramped-up criminal antitrust investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

According to a Tuesday article on Entrepreneur, the real target of this investigation is RealPage—a $9 billion Texas-based software company used by corporate landlords like Cortland. RealPage recommends rent increases on millions of housing units across the country.

From what Cortland Management told the press, the FBI executed a limited search warrant at the company’s Atlanta office as part of the DOJ’s investigation “into potential antitrust violations in the multifamily housing industry.”

The question is whether RealPage and corporate landlords are guilty of an alleged rental price-fixing conspiracy that could already be affecting millions of American renters.

More than 16 million rental units in the U.S., out of about 22 million in total, use RealPage’s YieldStar software.

CORTLAND’S TIES TO REALPAGE
According to the RealPage blog, Cortland Management, which owned close to 85,000 apartment units as of June 2022, used the RealPage algorithm to “ensure consistent vendor pricing for their communities from Arizona to Georgia.”

RealPage’s impact on the rental market is most noticeable in Atlanta, GA, where pricing for over 80% of rentals is software-based. Since 2016, rents in the area have gone up by 80%. And higher vacancy rates have not brought any relief.

According to multiple lawsuits filed in the last two years (in California, Arizona, and New York, among other states), the issue with RealPage is that its YieldStar algorithm suggests rental price increases based on data collected from landlords—not based on demand.

In a February (2024) lawsuit announcement, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes put it more clearly, saying landlords “were not competing at all… They were colluding with one another.”


https://nowbam.com/fbi-raids-corporate-landlord-in-rental-price-fixing-investigation/

 

[susano]

Cortland has acquired U.K.-based property management firm Qdime. With the company’s more than 33,000 units managed, the acquisition will make Cortland one of the U.K.’s top 10 property managers.

Cortland entered the U.K. management and development market in 2017, with plans to provide more housing options for residents through build-to-rent, leasehold and other rental models.

In 2019, Cortland acquired property management company LIV Group, adding some 10,000 units to its U.K. footprint. Qdime Group consists of seven brands that operate across the U.K., in cities such as Buckinghamshire, Bristol, Dorset, Hertfordshire, Kent, London and Wiltshire. Qdime’s Hazelvine, a property management service, represents the company’s biggest revenue source.

Qdime founders Nigel Burnand and Robert Burnand will stay on as Cortland employees, filling the roles of managing director of Block Operations and director of Block Operations, respectively. Cortland plans to retain all existing Qdime staff, as well.

Market growth
Cortland currently has a 367-unit build-to-rent project underway in Watford, England that is expected to open in late 2021. The firm, which operates nearly 70,000 units in the U.S., has been expanding its market presence throughout 2021. The company manages close to 200 U.S. communities in several states, including Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Arizona.

Last month the firm broke ground on Cortland ChampionsGate, a 355-unit, resort-style Orlando project. The development’s first units are expected to be delivered in the third quarter of 2022. The company recently took the No. 9 spot on our Fastest-Growing Multifamily Property Management Companies of 2021 ranking.

https://www.multihousingnews.com/cortland-expands-portfolio-with-uk-firm-acquisition/

 

[susano]

And, again:

Outlaw anyone (individual, corporate entity, etc) from owning more than one rental property. That means one single family house; one duplex or fourplex or one apartment complex. Whatever, it can only be one. This doesn't interfere with the right to own private property as anyone can still own their home, a second home, a third home, whatever. It simply limits the number of rental properties any entity can own. That would force the sale of millions of rental properties, immediately driving down property prices and, as a result, rents.

Next, outlaw short term rentals (Airbnb, etc) in residential neighborhoods.

If something like the above is not done, you're gonna see a huge increase in demand for government owned housing and rent control, as well as more a demand for more high density housing (Agenda 2030). Either keep rental property privately owned and within reach of renters or the renters will demand government come to their rescue when there's nothing affordable.

 

[acptulsa]

 

[acptulsa]

 

[acptulsa]

 

[Anti Federalist]

Nixon and Kissinger handed over the United States manufacturing base to Chairman Mao and the Communist Red Chinese.

At the same time they removed the last vestige of the dollar being pegged to gold.

 

[Brian4Liberty]

Off the top of my head, I'd have to guess that women joining the workforce went into high gear at that time.

And increasing immigration would also contribute.