Aug 18

 

Below is an Op-Ed by Yusuf “Joe” Dahl, past president of the Apartment Association. I think owners should be able to exclude drug dealers for a longer period than other crimes, but not a lifetime ban found in the HUD regulations and guidelines. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/17/drug-sales-exception-fair-housing-law/

Opinion | Congress should remove the drug-sales exception to fair housing law – The Washington Post

Yusuf Dahl is a past president of the Apartment Association of Southeastern Wisconsin; founder of the Real Estate Lab in Allentown, Pa.; and board chair of the Petey Greene Program, a national prison education nonprofit.

At 18, I was sentenced to 10 years in prison for dealing drugs. Twenty-five years later, as a Princeton-educated nonprofit leader and entrepreneur, I thought that part of my past was far behind me.

I had a rude awakening last year when my application to rent a home was denied after a background check. My prospective landlord exercised their legal right to discriminate against me for my prior conviction.

More about Joe:

As mentioned in the article, Joe is a past president of the Apartment Association and a Princeton Alumnus. Until this summer, he was the Director of the Dyer School for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Lafayette College, PA. He runs the Real Estate Lab in Allenton. Here are links to his Prison to Princeton and TED talk videos. They are short and worth viewing.

Activating Opportunity in Blighted Communities | Yusuf Dahl | TEDxCarnegieLake 

Princeton Profiles: Yusuf Dahl, from prison to Princeton 

Good Morning America video.

https://dyer.lafayette.edu/2020/01/31/real-estate-lab-launches/

‘We’re investing in people.’ City Center, Lafayette College collaborating on a Real Estate Lab for Allentown residents 

Aug 16

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/15/business/dealbook/adam-neumann-flow-new-company-wework-real-estate.html

Andreessen said in the blog post that he was interested in Flow because the rental real estate market is ripe for disruption. That’s especially true, Andreessen said, now that more and more people are working from home and “will experience much less, if any, of the in-office social bonding and friendships that local workers enjoy.” He also hinted that the company might try to address one of the biggest challenges renters face: “You can pay rent for decades and still own zero equity — nothing.” He added: “In a world where limited access to homeownership continues to be a driving force behind inequality and anxiety, giving renters a sense of security, community and genuine ownership has transformative power for our society.”

This will be interesting.  

Aug 09

Maybe this falls under the heading of “No Good Deed Goes Unpunished” Sounds like the property owner had kept the rent well below market for years, and now is being attacked for bringing it close to market rate.

Her Rent Is Going Up $700 A Month Because Her Landlord Claims That’s What The Apartment Is Worth

Unfortunately, Grace’s case is not uncommon. According to Rentec Direct, “Most landlords do not regularly raise their rent to match the cost of owning and maintaining a property,” the site explained.

What ends up happening is after 5 years at a steady rental rate, the owner will realize that a rent increase is necessary to keep up with increasing property taxes, maintenance, and market rates.”

Stories like this lead to calls for rent control. If owners kept their rents at market rate instead of large increases, there would be less conflict.  However, most owners, including myself, are reluctant to raise the rents of existing renters.

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