2 days ago
Greystar, nan largest proprietor and head of apartments successful nan US, systematically flouts section laws designed to make lodging affordable to nan poor, according to civilian authorities complaints revenge pinch authorities successful six states and nan District of Columbia.
The complaints – revenge this week pinch authorities agencies successful California, Hawaii, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Virginia and Washington DC – impeach Greystar of 114 violations of authorities and DC adjacent lodging laws. They allege that nan institution refuses to judge national lodging prime vouchers (also known arsenic Section 8) successful places that require landlords to judge them.
“We person ne'er encountered a landlord that operates pinch specified brazen contempt and hostility toward nan norm of rule arsenic Greystar,” Aaron Carr, executive head of nan Housing Rights Initiative, said successful a statement. “… As nan largest landlord successful America, Greystar should beryllium mounting nan modular of champion practices for nan nation, not systematically rejecting morganatic prospective tenants.”
Carr’s group and a nationalist rule firm, Cohen Milstein, submitted nan complaints and publically shared recordings of calls made to Greystar-run buildings by undercover testers posing arsenic imaginable tenants pinch vouchers. At each building, nan group says, Greystar unit either refused to judge vouchers aliases imposed unlawful conditions connected voucher use.
In a statement, Greystar did not reside nan specifics of nan complaints but said it is “committed to adjacent lodging practices successful everything we do” and provides related training to staff.
As of December, nan institution operated much than 1m units of lodging successful nan US, including astir 235,000 successful nan jurisdictions wherever nan complaints were filed, according to Yardi Matrix information analyzed by nan Private Equity Stateholder Project.
The allegations travel little than a period aft a Guardian investigation reported that tenants successful Greystar-run buildings look a wide of fees drawn from a paper of 125 different add-on charges. Lawsuits presently seeking people action position successful aggregate states allege Greystar charges inflated aliases forbidden fees.
In 2025, Greystar agreed to a $50m colony to resoluteness a national class action alleging it colluded pinch different landlords to raise rents and reached a $24m settlement successful a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit alleging it gouged tenants pinch hidden fees.
Greystar did not admit wrongdoing successful relationship pinch those settlements and has said that nan claims successful nan pending people actions are implausible and factually deficient.
