Across Canada, real estate developers and big corporate landlords are systematically exploiting racialized communities, buying up properties where they live at low prices and then flipping them for profit—after evicting long-term residents.

A new report, obtained exclusively by The Breach, shows that this practice is not incidental but a nationwide tactic employed by “financialized landlords.” These are entities like real estate investment trusts (REITs), asset managers, and pension funds that treat rental housing as an investment to generate shareholder profits, rather than a place for people to live.

The strategy hinges on a discriminatory and cynical assumption: removing Black and Arab tenants reliably raises property values and unlocks new profits.

These landlords methodically target buildings with low rents and long-standing, mostly immigrant tenants. Through capital upgrades, neglect, or renovation-driven evictions—what the industry euphemistically calls “repositioning”—they displace current residents and convert the housing into higher-value assets.

      • orioler25@lemmy.ca
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        20 hours ago

        Gentrification and displacement is already a death threat. People have the right to self-defense. Why don’t you stop stooping and get your tongue off the boots?

        Edit: didn’t even realize you were the guy defending the monarchy earlier. You really are just a doormat eh.

          • DiscussionBear@lemmy.world
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            3 days ago

            But forcing people into homelessness and potentially fast tracking them deeper into poverty isnt low? Pretty fucked up if you ask me.

            This behavior is just as bad if not worse than a simple death threat. These landlords and corporations could potentially lead to untold damage to society and way more deaths than just one landlord.

            They can get fucked.

  • orioler25@lemmy.ca
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    3 days ago

    Oh, look, the same thing that has happened over and over happened again. Gentrification and urban renewal is always stratified along racist lines. Almost like commodified housing results from a system that fundamentally depends on violence inflicted on othered groups.

  • AGM@lemmy.ca
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    3 days ago

    That was a very interesting article. I didn’t see any link to the report it’s mostly based on. Would love to read it, especially as the authors have very legit credentials. Framing an intentional race-based investment strategy using a “race discount” and a “race bonus” is pretty powerful stuff.

    • rozodru@pie.andmc.ca
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      3 days ago

      /r/Toronto enters the room: “I don’t know, but we should probably kill them.”