Long-term human rights lawyer and housing advocate Leilani Farha is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing. She made international headlines in March when she lambasted the Blackstone Group – one of the world’s biggest investors in residential real estate – for exploiting tenants, in a statement co-authored by Surya Deva, the UN Chair of the Working Group on business and human rights.
‘Almost overnight, multinational private equity and asset management firms like Blackstone have become the biggest landlords in the world,’ they wrote, ‘purchasing thousands and thousands of units in North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America.’ They noted that: ‘Landlords have become faceless corporations wreaking havoc with tenants’ right to security and contributing to the global housing crisis.’
