Louisiana Voice

Just how bad is housing affordability in the U.S.?

So bad that Republicans and Democrats were actually able to come together long enough to send a rare bipartisan bill, the 21^st Century ROAD to Housing Act to Diaper Don to sign into law in the Oval Office.

But of course, the unpredictable, petulant Trump flip-flopped at the 11^th hour, saying he would not sign the bill until Congress passed legislation requiring proof of citizenship for all voters—despite the existence of federal laws that already say quite explicitly that non-citizens cannot vote and despite any actual evidence that any non-citizens have voted in any elections.

Trump has chosen to ignore the plight of Americans who are increasingly feeling the pinch of housing costs, what with his Iran war- and tariff-driven inflation has done to the cost of living. But never mind all that, he wants a voter-suppression bill passed to ensure the Republicans maintain control of Congress at all costs (no pun intended).

Besides the increased cost of building materials, why has the cost of housing escalated so much?

Because corporations and hedge funds are snapping up houses and charging exorbitant rents because…. they can. Meanwhile, the housing market tightens up for prospective homebuyers who are forced to turn to apartments with high rent and hundreds of dollars in hidden monthly fees that—again, the hedge fund and corporate owners—gouge apartment dwellers with because they can—and do

Only yesterday, The Guardian ran an in-depth story about how Greystar, the biggest owner and operator of apartments in U.S., with nearly 977,000 units nationwide, soaks its tenants with a plethora of fees that defy reason. The publication identified 125 DIFFERENT FEES in leases, court documents and rental listings for Greystar apartments.

They include such charges as “boiler management fees,” “variable refrigerant flow fees” (whatever in the world those are), “solar rebill” fees and even something called “lifestyle fees.” Together, they can add hundreds of dollars to already out-of-control base rental fees.

Greystar owns three large apartment complexes totaling several hundred units in Baton Rouge—Bend on Bluebonnet, Paramount at Cedar Lodge and Blu on the Boulevard. Base rent ranges from $1,346 to $4,233 per month.

In addition to the monthly base rent, there are the “required monthly fees: $80 per month fee for cable, $3 monthly for pest control services, $25 per month for trash services.

Then, there are the optional fees. If you have a pet, there is a $20 per month fee. You’ll pay $50 per month to park in the covered parking area or $100 per month to park in the garage and renters’ liability and content coverage will cost another $13 per month.

Of course, we couldn’t forget the required one-time fees which include $400 to $600 security deposit, a $50 fee just to apply for an apartment rental and an administrative fee of $150.

There are also other optional one-time fees. Those include a pet fee (over and above the monthly fee) of $300 to $500 and a security deposit which ranges from $1,346 to $4,233.

And there are the “additional fees.” If you should lose say, the remote for the TV, it’ll cost you to replace it. That fee is from $35 to $50, depending on which device needs replacing. An early lease termination will cost you anywhere from $2,692 to $8,466. There’s something called an “intra-community transfer fee ($300), a late fee ($134 to $423), legal/eviction fees which can vary, something called “payment services – alternative” ($18), “payment services – third party” (varies), pet management – third party ($30), a reletting fee that runs from $1,144 to $3,598, “renters liability only – non-compliance” ($8), a returned payment fee ($25), a utility- vacant cost recovery fee and a utility-vacant processing fee, both of which vary.

A quick tally reveals those add-ons could cost you between $4,400 and $7,340 over and above your monthly rental.

In San Diego, where Blackstone Properties owns about 6,000 units, multiply that by only a few of the add-on fees, and you have a pretty substantial side hustle of a couple hundred thousand dollars per month.

As another online news service, Popular Information, points out, one overriding factor in the high cost of apartment living is the concentration in ownership. Private equity firms presently own somewhere around 11,800 apartment complexes with nearly 3 million units (about 13 percent of all apartment units in the U.S.). It’s even higher in states like Georgia (almost one-third) and North Carolina (about 25 percent).

There’s another little trick these private equity firms employ to maximize their bottom line: the firms acquire buildings funded by low-income housing tax credits at a low cost while rent restrictions still apply. Then, once those restrictions expire, the rents are increased and they sell the properties for a large profit. With half-a-million units in the U.S. whose rent restrictions will be lifted by the end of the decade, there are big bucks to be made. Blackstone, for example, has focused on this tactic, spending over $5 billion on purchasing low-income housing in 2021 alone.

Meanwhile, tenants are being squeezed but investors are fat and happy.

There has been one HOUSING MARKET BUBBLE to burse in recent memory.

Could we be headed toward another one?