States and real estate private equity firms questioned for compliance with human rights
GENEVA (26 March 2019) – UN human rights experts have condemned the “egregious” business practices of giant private equity and investment firms which are scooping up low income and affordable homes around the world, upgrading them, and substantially raising rents, forcing tenants out of their own homes.
Leilani Farha, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, and Surya Deva, Chairperson of the Working Group on business and human rights, have written to one of the world’s largest investors in residential real estate, the Blackstone Group L.P., expressing serious concerns that its actions are inconsistent with international human rights law with respect to the right to housing and its responsibility to respect human rights under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.