David Sirota: Private equity firms buying up suburban neighborhoods have ‘deep ties’ to Democrats

David Sirota, founder of The Daily Poster, said top Democrats may soon have to choose between solving housing affordability issues among Americans and their political funding from private equity firms that are increasingly buying up suburban neighborhoods. 

In an interview on Hill.TV’s “Rising,” Sirota reflected on recent reporting from The Wall Street Journal, which found that big investment firms like BlackRock and Blackstone, which have contributed significantly to members of the Democratic Party, are engaging in a bidding war to buy up housing, including single-family homes. 

“It’s a difficult situation,” Sirota said. “You’ve got huge amounts of capital that are looking for bigger returns, frankly than even the market is giving right now, and real estate has been an asset class that more and more investors are pouring into.” 

Sirota added that “the Wall Street involvement in the housing asset class creates a political issue for a Democratic Party that has deep ties to some of those major Wall Street firms.”

“The Democratic Party’s going to have to choose, ‘are we going to be with our private equity backers who pour lots of money into our campaigns, or are we going to be with those who are trying to deal with the housing crisis in a serious way,’” he explained. 

Watch part of Sirota’s interview above.