Working Paper - Rental Property Owner Stress During the Covid-19 Pandemic: Results from a Minneapolis, MN survey

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic placed a unique strain on the US housing system. Unprecedented job losses combined with a public health imperative to keep people housed pushed policymakers to issue a series of orders pausing residential evictions. These moratoria kept people in their homes but did little to address underlying housing stress. In this paper, we document the early impact of the pandemic on private rental housing owners with the results of a new survey. Between December 2020 and January 2021, we surveyed rental property owners in Minneapolis, Minnesota, asking questions about their businesses and about how the pandemic has affected their ability to operate rental properties. In this paper, we present a descriptive analysis of their responses. Nearly half of the respondents to our survey reported that the pandemic affected their rental property business in some way. The most commonly reported impacts were an anticipated decline in cash flow and increases in rent arrears across their portfolios. We find associations between property owner stress and (1) rents, (2) portfolio size, (3) the physical conditions of properties, and (4) race. The results of our analysis suggest that property owner portfolio and individual characteristics contribute to the challenge of local housing security.