The Blackstone Letters
On March 22, 2019, Leilani Farha and the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights reached out to six governments and the Blackstone Group, one of the biggest real estate investment firms in the world.
In a joint media statement, they condemned the “egregious” practices of large private equity firms buying up affordable housing, renovating it, and then hiking rents—pushing long-time tenants out of their homes.
They stressed that real estate investors have a responsibility to respect human rights, including doing proper checks to prevent harm to the right to housing. Governments, they added, must regulate housing investment so it protects—rather than threatens—people’s access to adequate homes.
The letters and Blackstone’s reply can be found below.
Ireland →
Spain →
Sweden →