Corporate Landlords and the Climate Crisis

Abstract

This chapter explores the nexus of finance and climate change by examining the concurrent rise of extreme weather disasters and corporate landlords. Wealthy, white corporate investors use their financial resources to profit from extreme weather. In the wake of hurricanes and floods in Lumberton, North Carolina, corporate investors swooped in to buy single-family homes and rent them out for profit. These landlords have created precarious housing for Lumberton’s Black, Brown, and lower-income white families, who were more likely to be displaced by extreme weather and then were forced to put more of their comparatively lower incomes toward rent. Corporate landlords’ speculation on single-family rentals around the country capitalizes on the racialized displacement that will likely worsen with climate change.