Blackstone is the largest alternative asset manager in the world, with over $1 trillion in assets under management. The recent "Helter Shelter: How Blackstone Contributes to and Profits from California's Broken Housing System" report from industry watchdog, Private Equity Stakeholder Project and the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment highlighted Blackstone's residential real estate buying spree in regions facing acute housing shortages like in the communities of San Diego, California, to profit from the affordable housing crisis. The largest corporate landlord in the US has expanded its real estate empire aggressively since 2021 to own 350,000 rental units while allegedly fighting rent control measures and significantly hiking rents to maximise profits.
The report highlighted several links between Blackstone and RealPage. It stated that there is ample evidence of the private equity giant leveraging RealPage's YieldStar real estate software, which is under investigation by the US Department of Justice for allowing landlords and property managers to collude in fixing higher-than-expected rents that affected millions of renters.
