I knew this meant something else to me. Blackstone is also owner of QTS Datacenter in Fayetteville GA that had a water meter the county did not know about after recent construction. Blackstone built one of the largest datacenters of 615 acres and after residents began complaining about weak water pressure an investigation found they consumed almost 30 MILLION gallons of water, equivalent to 44 olympic sized pools and didn't pay a dime - a cost of $147,474 in value. Despite breaking peak usage restrictions, they face ZERO fines. Blackstone, also owner of Stuyvesant town, is one of the largest corporate landlords are accused of being the a key player in the housing affordability crisis. They buy foreclosed single family homes in great numbers and apartment buildings, political leverage to undermine local laws and policies that would improve access to affordable housing. So let me ask the question, why would the mayor speak with Blackstone privately when they are operating in opposition to the city trying to create affordable housing? Why is our pension system funding their greed? Why are they invested in our pensions at $5 billion? Aren't we working against ourselves? The UN even found: "United Nations experts Leilani Farha and Surya Deva sent letters to Schwarzman and several governments, igniting a media firestorm about Blackstone’s role in the global housing affordability crisis. So far, every country but the United States, led by the Trump administration, responded to Farha and Deva’s communications." Farha and Deva laid out three disturbing points: 1) since the 2008 global financial crisis, Blackstone, through its subsidiary, Invitation Homes, purchased an “extraordinary and unprecedented number of foreclosed single-family properties,” which turned into rentals and “had deleterious effects on the enjoyment of the right to housing;” 2) Blackstone and its subsidiaries purchased apartment buildings at “unprecedented rates across the world, which is also having deleterious effects on the right to housing;” and 3) “Blackstone is using its significant resources and political leverage to undermine domestic laws and policies that would in fact improve access to adequate housing consistent with international human rights law.” In fact, Reuters recently found that Schwarzman is Wall Street’s largest political contributor in the United States, shelling out more than $27 million to campaign committees, Donald Trump, and other politicians. The billionaire is clearly attempting to shape American politics and policymaking to his favor. Schwarzman has already contributed $4.4 million to Trump’s campaign or political committees connected to Trump, according to Federal Election Commission filings. The UN experts didn’t stop with those three points. They laid out a long list of Schwarzman and Blackstone’s sins: Pressed to make big profits, Invitation Homes and other corporate landlords push “undue rent increases making housing unaffordable for many existing tenants and reducing the availability of affordable housing stock” in the United States. Invitation Homes “is quick to threaten eviction or file eviction notices to late payment of rent or late payment of fees, no matter the circumstances.” Invitation Homes tenants “indicated that they feel insecure living in these conditions, where above average rent increases, exorbitant fees, or the smallest infraction can result in arrears and lead to eviction and the threat of homelessness.” Blackstone and its subsidiaries focus on purchasing apartment buildings in “undervalued” neighborhoods, which often means properties in working-class communities. The corporate landlord then refurbishes the buildings and increases rents (“often exorbitantly”), “driving existing tenants out, and replacing them with higher income tenants.” Blackstone “used its considerable resources and political leverage to influence housing policy in a manner that is inconsistent with the right to housing,” noting that the corporate landlord had shelled out, in 2018, “at least $6.2 million” to defeat California’s Proposition 10. The ballot measure would have repealed a state law that places severe restrictions on local rent control policies. Farha and Deva concluded that “Blackstone’s and its subsidiaries’ business model is pushing low-income, and increasingly middle-income, people from their homes. Blackstone’s practices… have abruptly increased the rental payments of single-family rentals, making them unaffordable for millions of existing residents, decreased the availability and affordability of social housing, and has undertook aggressive evictions to protect rental income streams to satisfy investors.” housingisahumanright.org/modern-day-rob…
