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.
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.
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.
RealPage Software Scandal
Equity Residential and Essex Property Trust have been implicated in the ongoing RealPage scandal, where landlords used RealPage’s software to collude and wildly inflate rents nationwide. This has led to investigations and antitrust lawsuits by the Department of Justice and several state attorneys general, exposing further predatory corporate landlord behavior.
Need for Rent Regulation
The study underscores why state and local politicians must better regulate corporate landlords through stronger rent regulations. Rent control or rent stabilization is essential to rein in the real estate industry’s exploitation of vulnerable tenants. However, California YIMBY and YIMBY Action have aligned with the California Apartment Association and corporate landlords to oppose pro-tenant legislation, undermining tenant protections.
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YIMBY Groups’ Contradictory Role
In 2024, California YIMBY and YIMBY Action backed the CAA’s campaign to kill Proposition 33, which would have ended rent control restrictions. In 2025, they again teamed with CAA and corporate landlords to oppose a bill by Assemblymember Ash Kalra that would have strengthened tenant protections. Despite the UCLA study’s findings, these YIMBY groups remain silent on the issue and have not publicly addressed the predatory practices of Big Real Estate, continuing their long-standing push for pro-gentrification policies.
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