The Real Dirt is a regular column by award-winning advocacy journalist Patrick Range McDonald that exposes the real estate industry’s lies, scams, and other unscrupulous acts, which impact the lives of millions. It’s the inaugural

For years, Housing Is A Human Right and our parent organization, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, have been advocating for the “3 Ps” to address the housing affordability crisis in the United States. While corporate landlords and

Last fall, Brian Callaci and Sandeep Vaheesan, of the Open Markets Institute, wrote a must-read white paper on ways to solve the housing affordability crisis. Published in the Harvard Business Review, it made clear that

U.S. senators Elizabeth Warren and Ruben Gallego have recently sent a letter to the Department of Defense calling for an investigation into whether landlords are using RealPage software to rent gouge military families. Over the

For the 2024 election, Big Real Estate raised a whopping total of $171.6 million to kill Proposition 33 and pass Proposition 34 in California. Several of the top contributors are the country’s largest corporate landlords.

For decades, the Ellis Act, a statewide law in California, has devastated the lives of tenants, including seniors and children, by forcing them out of their homes through evictions to make way for luxury housing.

Scandal-plagued contributors from the real estate industry have shelled out a shocking $102.5 million to kill Proposition 33 and pass Proposition 34 in California – and that number is only rising. The controversial donors include

Invitation Homes, a corporate landlord that’s routinely getting into major trouble, has agreed to an eye-popping $48-million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission for “unlawful behavior against renters.” Through its wholly owned subsidiary, THR Property

UC Berkeley Professor Ken Rosen has a lot to answer for. In a new TV ad paid by the California Apartment Association and corporate landlords, Rosen tries to come off as an independent voice, explaining

When it comes to Proposition 33 in California, a quick look at who supports the pro-rent control ballot measure and who is financing the No on Prop 33 campaign says everything. The California Democratic Party,