Thread by @thisisinsider

Landlords have filed 272,612 evictions in 27 cities since last March.

Corporate landlords in cities like Milwaukee helped drive an evictions crisis during the pandemic. 👇 businessinsider.com/how-corporate-…

One week in June, as nationwide coronavirus deaths climbed steadily above 100,000, companies tied to millionaire Youssef "Joe" Berrada filed 225 evictions in Milwaukee.

That made him responsible for over half of the city's evictions.

businessinsider.com/how-corporate-…

Executive Director of the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee Colleen Foley met with Berrada. She told Berrada, who is Moroccan, that his evictions were disproportionately affecting people of color.

Berrada later agreed to an eviction "hiatus". The city's eviction rate dropped 36%.

The national eviction count is likely far higher than the 270K in cities tracked by the @evictionlab at @Princeton.

Corporate landlords, which own almost 50% of rental properties, are more likely to evict, advocates say.

businessinsider.com/how-corporate-…

Housing advocates fear that the worst is yet to come.

Next week, the @CDCgov's eviction moratorium is set to expire again. Even if extended, housing experts say that it will only be kicking an eviction tsunami down the line.

businessinsider.com/biden-might-ex…

An eviction filing functions as a stain on a tenant's record which can make it close to impossible to find future housing.

Black women face eviction at twice the rate of white renters in 17 states, according to analysis by the @ACLU.

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Jacqueline Clark was evicted by a Berrada company before the pandemic, in 2017, and now she organizes with the Milwaukee Autonomous Tenants Union for better renter protections.

"It was the most devastating experience," she told Insider.

Over the last decade, over twenty cities have seen rent costs increase by over 50%.

At the same time, wages have stagnated. When adjusted for inflation, a 2018 hourly wage has about the same purchasing power as it did in 1978.

Foley sees the relationship she's brokered with Berrada as a potential blueprint for the rest of the country; an alternate path that could keep people in their homes and reduce the hegemony of corporate landlords.

Read more: businessinsider.com/how-corporate-…