Ethnic Media: Mom-and-pop landlords struggle to stay afloat – Key to low-rent apartment supply

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit renters hard nationwide with data showing that millions of renters have missed payments or lack confidence in their ability to pay future rents. But there is little public information about how this country’s 8 million independent landlords are managing, 77% of whom are small mom-and-pop landlords whose multi-plex apartment units provide much of the low-rental housing market. In the Bay Area, small landlords of color are struggling to pay their mortgages with Asian, Latinx, and Black homeowners facing elevated rates of mortgage delinquency. Speakers will address why struggling landlords need additional policies to alleviate their financial burdens.

WHO:
Bay Area Ethnic Media Briefing:
Mom-and-pop landlords struggle
to stay afloat – Key to low-rent
apartment supply

Jessica Martin — jmartin@ethnicmediaservices.org
• Maeve Elise Brown, director, Housing and Economic Rights Advocates
• Jung Hyun Choi, a senior research associate with the Housing Finance Policy Center
at the Urban Institute
• John Yen Wong, Founding Chairman, Asian Real Estate Association of America
(AREAA)
• Three small landlords

A bout S mall R ental (One-to-F our) Units
 S mall rental units account for about half of rental stocks (2.3 million properties).
 Disproportionately greater share of thos e who live in small rental units,
(especially 2-4 units), are low-income households, and households of color.
 R enters, especially renters of color, have been disproportionately hurt by the
COVID-19 pandemic
 More than 75 percent of 1-4 rental units are owned by individual investors.
 Mom-and-P op landlords of color are also more likely to own 2-4 rental
properties.