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Private Equity Firms Are Making America’s Housing Shortage Worse, Democrats Say

Booming U.S. Recovery Is Leaving Some Communities Completely Behind
Photographer: Jessica Pons/Bloomberg
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Democrats lobbed fresh attacks on private equity firms Thursday, blaming the industry for driving up rental costs and contributing to America’s affordable housing shortage. 

Investors that scooped up cheap properties following the 2008 financial crisis are renting them out at unfair prices and neglecting residents and the communities they live in, according to Sherrod Brown, chair of the Senate Banking Committee.