Most of my holdings are VTI, so I surely own some of RealPage and any other publicly traded firm like this. I don't care. Burn that entire part of the market. I cannot stomach that my investment returns are on the backs of the homeless.
Wonder if this is just the tip of an iceberg? What other industries might be doing similar things?
Not SaaS specifically, but basically all of healthcare is monopolized through hospital group purchasing organizations.
It’s important to get this right, or we won’t be able to solve either of these problems (skyrocketing rents & homelessness).
Ridiculous claim: https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/...
Sure, correlation vs causation blah blah. This correlation persists even when controlling for most other variables people can think of:
> A large body of academic research has consistently found that homelessness in an area is driven by housing costs, whether expressed in terms of rents, rent-to-income ratios, price-to-income ratios, or home prices. Further, changes in rents precipitate changes in rates of homelessness: homelessness increases when rents rise by amounts that low-income households cannot afford. Similarly, interventions to address housing costs by providing housing directly or through subsidies have been effective in reducing homelessness. That makes sense if housing costs are the main driver of homelessness, but not if other reasons are to blame. Studies show that other factors have a much smaller impact on homelessness.
> Much of the research looks at the variation in homelessness among geographies and finds that housing costs explain far more of the difference in rates of homelessness than variables such as substance use disorder, mental health, weather, the strength of the social safety net, poverty, or economic conditions. Some vulnerabilities strongly influence which people are susceptible to homelessness, but research has repeatedly concluded that these factors play only a minor role in driving rates of homelessness compared with the role of housing costs.
A platitude about correlation vs causation is downplaying what we know about this specific situation.
It stands up both to intellectual review and research studies. It’s a very clear idea that higher rents are harder to pay for, so it’s more likely you can’t pay. It’s conceptually sound AND backed by research.
> Especially visible homelessness
In many parts of the country visible homelessness is a small fraction of the total homelessness. For example, historically Boston had 5% of the homeless population on the street.
Homelessness doesn’t look like what people see. For every homeless person laying on the sidewalk having a health crisis there are 10-20 more people in homeless shelters or cars. This is where the homeless families are.
If you have bad luck (eg medical expenses, car crash etc) and suddenly can’t afford rent, high rents make it hard to get enough money to bridge that gap. This is a real risk for low-income workers - one surprise bill could easily deplete savings and risk not paying rent.
If you’re just irresponsible or handicapped and can’t work full time (eg mental health issues, physical health issues) and have trouble maintaining income and savings, then expensive rent makes it more likely you won’t earn enough any given month.
Hell, if you’re a drug addict and barely able to hold a job and always looking for your fix, high rent makes it harder to find a slummy house to get out of the rain.
You can find PLENTY of data on homelessness from your city’s homeless Census which they do every year. It’s a rigorous process and it’s done in a controlled manner in every major city in America.