SAN DIEGO — A new report released Thursday accused the company Blackstone of contributing to the affordable housing crisis in San Diego.
The Private Equity Stakeholder Project and Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment put together the report titled "Helter Shelter: How Blackstone Contributes To and Profits from California's Broken Housing System."
Nearly 2x market average
According to the report, Blackstone owns more than 60 apartment buildings in San Diego County and it raised rents nearly double the market average since purchasing the properties three years ago. It states rents were raised anywhere from 13 percent to 79 percent. The average increase was 38 percent. Rents increased from an average of $1700 to more than $2300.
"These were properties that were some of the last affordable housing properties available in a city that's already suffering from an affordable housing crisis," said Jordan Ash, the report's author. "Blackstone bought them and immediately raised the rents."
The report comes just weeks after the San Diego County Board of Supervisors agreed to take steps to study exactly how much corporate landlords are having an effect on the housing crisis in San Diego, and to see if there are any laws that can be passed preventing large Wall Street firms from buying up lots of properties.
Blackstone in San Diego
Blackstone is operating within the state law, but Ash said because the law only allows rent to go up by so much for existing tents, it gives the company an incentive to evict people, which he claimed is happening.
"There definitely needs to be more regulation," he said. "The bottom line is people need a place to live. We believe people have a right to housing. And while companies have a right also to make money, it shouldn't be in a way that prevents people from having a place to live."
Blackstone's response
On Friday afternoon, a spokesperson for Blackstone sent CBS 8 the following statement:
“The reality is that average rents at these San Diego communities are 20% below the San Diego market average. Resident review scores have increased ~40% under our ownership and resident retention rates are significantly higher than the national average. We have invested approximately $100 million to improve living conditions for thousands of San Diego residents who live in our communities; we have already completed over 44,000 repairs, including those that were previously unaddressed.
We hold ourselves and our operators to the highest standard of care. During the pandemic, Blackstone recognized that many were experiencing extreme hardship. We believe we are the only major landlord in the US that did not evict a single tenant for non-payment during those 2+ years.”
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