The Landlords' Side of the Story

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Evictions, COVID-19, CDC Eviction Moratorium / Comments

Have you noticed that landlords tend to be portrayed as evil and uncaring?  I'm reading lots of so-called news articles (that really are nothing but opinion pieces) with such sentiments.  The media also tend to treat all landlords as large companies making lots of money at the expense of tenants.  Did you know that the vast majority of landlords throughout the U.S. are small "mom & pop" landlords that own rental property in addition to working a full-time job?

Our own Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel likes to push this false narrative.  Despite myself and other landlords having spent literally hours on the phone with, writing emails to, or even meeting personally with J-S reporters, the paper still opts to ignore the facts and imparted knowledge provided, in order to continue the false narrative that landlords are evil. 

One individual, Nick Sakalis, has taken the lead in trying to tell the landlords' side of the story.  Below are several of his videos.  Please take the time to watch them, and share them if you are so inclined.  They are well-made and refreshingly don't just tell one side of the story.   They also explain an important point that the J-S tends to overlook, the fact that if landlords fail, tenants will also fail, as will the towns and cities that contain rental housing.  It seems short-sighted to continue to produce stories pushing the false narrative rather then trying to educate its readers about the long-term effects of continuing eviction moratoria without providing funding to keep both tenants and landlords afloat. 

Mr. Sakalis has also created a YouTube channel dedicated to collecting all landlord-related videos in one place. He has already assembled a fair amount of content and is adding to it everyday.  I will continue to post Nick's videos to my blog as they are created.

Perhaps one day the J-S will realize that landlords and tenants are not opposing forces and should not be trying to vilify the other. Rather landlords and tenants are two sides of the same coin.  What helps landlords also helps tenants and what helps tenants will also help landlords and by extension rental housing, municipalities, stores etc etc.  Is the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel listening . . .  probably not.