Elijah de la Campa, a senior research associate in Economics and Urban Analytics at the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, has teamed up with others to expand on earlier research about how the pandemic is affecting landlords.
The results this time are from a survey of over 4,700 landlords with small and large holdings in 10 cities. The questions investigate the level of arrears, and whether landlords are managing their buildings differently during COVID. It investigates differences in management practices between neighbourhoods with higher and lower incomes. It also investigates differences between neighbourhoods that are predominantly BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Colour) and those that are predominantly White.
The analysis identifies a number of issues. For example, landlords in predominantly BIPOC neighbourhoods are more likely to have listed their properties for sale. The same landlords are also more likely to have initiated evictions. The sample is not representative of the U.S. as a whole, but as the authors point out, it does suggest that patterns of discrimination are being exacerbated.
You can read more about the research and results at the Joint Center For Housing Studies: How Are Landlords Faring During the COVID-19 Pandemic?
Below: Our post discussing de la Campa’s earlier survey of landlords in Albany and Rochester.
Elijah de la Campa has done some interesting research about rental arrears among small landlords during COVID. He used racial characteristics of neighbourhoods to make comparisons about the extent of rental arrears and strategies the landlords used to manage the arrears.
De la Campa is a senior research associate in Economics and Urban Analytics at the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative. He interviewed landlords in two cities in New York state: Albany and Rochester. The landlords owned no more than three buildings. The interviews took place in June and October 2020.
He found that all landlords were experiencing higher levels of arrears in 2020 than in the same period during 2019. Landlords with housing in predominately white neighbourhoods reported an 80% increase in arrears in June 2020 compared to June 2019. By October, 2020, the difference was less, just 30% higher than in October, 2019. But it was still an increase.
Landlords with housing in predominantly black neighbourhoods reported a 72% increase in June 2020 compared to 2019. By October, the difference had risen to a 101% increase over the same month of the previous year.
De la Campa found that there were differences in the way that arrears were managed between landlords in the predominantly white and predominantly black neighbourhoods. In white dominant areas, 22% of landlords had reduced rents for their tenants.
In black dominated areas, less than 1% of landlords had taken this step. With respect to evictions, 12% of landlords had taken steps to evict tenants in black dominant neighbourhoods. In white dominated neighbourhoods, 6% of landlords had done so.
De la Campa’s findings indicate that COVID has contributed to a high level of financial stress amongst small landlords, which is directly linked to the housing and financial stress of their tenants. At this scale, his findings certainly suggest that an arrears bailout would contribute to financial and housing stability for both the landlords and the tenants.
The findings will be of interest to advocates and policy makers and decision makers who are focused on building a COVID recovery strategy that helps people who are most vulnerable. The research method will also be interesting for people studying systemic discrimination. Read more about de la Campa’s work at Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies: The Impact of COVID-19 on Small Landlords in Albany and Rochester, New York
