Thread by @RealBankReform

Today, we will be clipping videos from the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs committee hearing on “How Private Equity Landlords are Changing the Housing Market.”

Follow along in this thread, or watch the hearing live, starting at 10:00am:
banking.senate.gov/hearings/how-p…

@SherrodBrown opens: "in plain English, that meant take advantage of the foreclosure crisis... to give Wall Street billionaires the chance to buy up homes for less than they're worth and rent them out at a steep profit."

@SherrodBrown "It's a variation on the same theme no matter the industry.... PE profits depend on squeezing every last nickel from workers and renters, without any kind of real investment in their employees or their communities."

Sofia Lopez, Deputy Campaign Direct on Housing at the Action Center on Race and the Economy @ACREcampaigns opening remarks: “Private equity business model exploits tenants.”

Holly Hook, a manufactured home resident and @MHaction leader: "nobody knew our community was for sale until a notice appeared on our doors"

Dr. Desiree Fields, assistant professor at University of California, Berkeley opening remarks: “The ways private equity landlords are changing the housing market is linked to the geography of corporate SFR.”

@SherrodBrown asks Holly Hook of @MHaction: "When Haven Park and other PE firms buy a community and raise the rents, what sacrifices have you and other residents had to make to keep your homes?"

@SherrodBrown asks Sofia Lopez of @ACREcampaigns: "what are some of the most problematic elements of the PE single family rental business model?"

@SenWarren: "Manufactured homes are a critical avenue to affordable housing for millions of Americans... the PE industry saw an opportunity... Wall Street vultures realized that families were effectively stuck in place."

@SenWarren to Sofia Lopez of @ACREcampaigns: "from what you've seen, when PE or other Wall Street firms purchase a manufactured home community, does the quality of life for residents of that community generally improve?"

Sofia Lopez: "No"

@SenWarren to Sofia Lopez of @ACREcampaigns: "What does Congress need to do to ensure that residents at Oak Hill and other manufactured home communities aren't being gauged by PE firms?"
Sofia Lopez: "I think the Stop Wall Street Looting Act is an excellent piece of legislation."

@SenTinaSmith: “What do you think we should be doing to level the playing field for ordinary home buyers so large institutional buyers don’t end up buying a large bulk of the available properties in certain areas?”