Calling on Kern County Retirement Fund to Halt Single Family Rental Investment Due to Eviction Practices and Unsafe Housing Conditions

At an August 10th meeting of the Kern County Employees Retirement Association (KCERA) board, the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP) and IX called on KCERA to halt its proposed investment in Landmark Partners, which is a major investor in Progress Residential, the second largest owner of single-family rental homes in the U.S. with over 80,000 rental units. 

Progress Residential tenants in Minneapolis who are members of IX report going years without necessary repairs for issues related to lead paint, black mold, pest infestations, flooding, and electrical hazards. Earlier this year, the Minnesota Attorney General sued Progress Residential, alleging “shameful,” “deceptive,” and “fraudulent” business practices.  The suit also charges Progress Residential with violating the state eviction moratorium. 

Jimmy Harris, a Progress Residential tenant in Minneapolis, says “Even though I took my landlord to court in the last few months, I’m still struggling to get repairs in my home. I’ve been asking for repairs since my home was broken into at the beginning of July, and they still haven’t been done.”

A U.S House of Representatives committee recently released its findings from a year-long investigation into the eviction practices during the pandemic of Progress Residential and three other corporate landlords. The report found that Progress and the other landlords engaged in abusive tactics to remove tenants from their homes. Progress filed evictions on tenants who were only a single month behind on rent. The company also determined not to accept rental assistance offers that it deemed insufficiently generous. 

The committee chair Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) said, “Rather than working with cost-burdened tenants, abiding by applicable eviction moratoriums, and accepting federal rental assistance, these companies – with properties across 28 states – expedited evictions above all else.” 

Representatives from PESP and IX spoke at the KCERA board  meeting on August 10th. The KCERA board voted on whether to commit $40 million in the Landmark Real Estate Partners Fund IX. In 2018, KCERA invested $60 million in the Landmark Real Estate Partners Fund VIII.