The Eviction Kings

"He could have told her about the company that bought Conrad at Concord Mills, the Charlotte, North Carolina, apartment complex where he lived, in March 2022-the one that Kelly says installed a slew of "gadgets" he didn't need before raising his rent by nearly $400 a month. He could have told her about the eviction notices that the company kept filing against him-the ones that came, he says, with an onslaught of fees that virtually guaranteed he'd never fully get back on his feet."

"He could have told her about the trucking accident that tore up his leg just two weeks prior, causing him to need help just to get from his parked truck into the courtroom. He could have told her he put himself through it because he had nowhere else to go. But in the eyes of the court, it didn't matter: He owed money that he didn't have."

"The "they" Kelly referred to is American Landmark, a major corporate landlord with roughly 34,000 units concentrated in 111 mega-complexes like Conrad across eight Southern states, particularly North Carolina, Florida, and Texas. Roughly two-thirds of its properties were purchased after the Covid pandemic began, and the company, with a private-equity structure that allows investors from all over the world to bet on the growth of its real estate portfolio, is now America's 34th-largest landlord."

Diron Kelly lost his apartment after owing money and was evicted in May 2024, then spent months homeless, showering at rest stops and sleeping in his truck. He suffered a trucking injury two weeks earlier that made entering the courtroom difficult. After American Landmark bought his Charlotte complex in March 2022, tenants report unwanted devices were installed and rents rose by nearly $400 a month. Tenants report repeated eviction notices accompanied by fees that compounded financial hardship. American Landmark owns roughly 34,000 units across 111 mega-complexes in eight Southern states and operates with a private-equity investor structure.

Read at The Nation