A Housing Is A Human Right investigation has found that between 2018 and 2025, Essex Property Trust, one of the largest corporate landlords in the United States, shelled out a whopping $60.1 million in campaign
Rent Stabilization is an ‘Effective Approach,’ Says Top Urban Planning Professor
In Featured by Patrick Range McDonald / Feb. 13, 2026Recently, Edward Goetz, an award-winning professor of urban and regional planning and director of Center for Urban and Regional Affairs at the University of Minnesota, wrote an important op-ed for the Boston Globe. In it,
Zillow’s Chief Economist is Still Right About the Dire Need for More Affordable Housing
In Featured by Patrick Range McDonald / Feb. 05, 2026Nearly 10 years ago, on July 28, 2016, Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Svenja Gudell released a “Zillow analysis” about the kinds of apartments built in America – luxury units compared to affordable. It was a
Rent Control is One Part of the Answer
In Featured by Patrick Range McDonald / Jan. 16, 2026Whenever billionaire corporate landlords and YIMBYs counter pro-rent control advocates, they routinely use a false argument: rent control alone won’t solve the housing affordability crisis. It’s a false argument because housing activists have never made
The Real Dirt: RealPage Scandal, Predatory Landlords, People Power
In Featured by Patrick Range McDonald / Oct. 30, 2025The Real Dirt is a monthly column by award-winning advocacy journalist Patrick Range McDonald that exposes the real estate industry’s lies, scams, and other unscrupulous acts, which impact the lives of millions. It’s been three years since
The Real Dirt: Capital Realty Group, Billionaire Steve Schwarzman, Corporate YIMBYs
In Featured by Patrick Range McDonald / Sep. 30, 2025The Real Dirt is a monthly column by award-winning advocacy journalist Patrick Range McDonald that exposes the real estate industry’s lies, scams, and other unscrupulous acts, which impact the lives of millions. For the past several weeks,
Tenants and Activists Around the World Must Band Together to Fight Corporate Landlords
In Featured by Patrick Range McDonald / Sep. 24, 2025One of the big stories developing in the United States recently is that tenants and activists in cities all over the country have been banding together to fight Capital Realty Group, a New York-based corporate
The Real Dirt: The Shady Dealings of Corporate Landlords and California Apartment Association
In Featured by Patrick Range McDonald / Aug. 27, 2025The Real Dirt is a monthly column by award-winning advocacy journalist Patrick Range McDonald that exposes the real estate industry’s lies, scams, and other unscrupulous acts, which impact the lives of millions. Many of the largest corporate
Did Trump and Corporate Landlords Target Planned Parenthood and AIDS Healthcare Foundation?
In Featured by Patrick Range McDonald / Aug. 20, 2025Last month, a federal judge in Massachusetts issued a preliminary injunction for Planned Parenthood that stops the Trump administration’s effort to essentially defund that organization. The political and legal issues involved in the Planned Parenthood
The Real Dirt: California YIMBY and Big Tech Kill Tenant Protections, YIMBY Action Parties Hard, Following Big Real Estate’s Money
In Featured by Patrick Range McDonald / Jul. 31, 2025The Real Dirt is a monthly column by award-winning advocacy journalist Patrick Range McDonald that exposes the real estate industry’s lies, scams, and other unscrupulous acts, which impact the lives of millions. This month, Housing Is A