KPBS Midday Edition

Public Radio Program Sues To Uncover Secret Landlords Buying Up America's Cities

By Jade Hindmon / KPBS Midday Edition Co-Host, Marissa Cabrera / News Producer, KPBS Midday Edition

Published January 7, 2020 at 11:15 AM PST

This story was published more than 4 years ago.

Real estate signs advertise the sale of three houses in a row in Encinitas in San Diego County, July 13, 2006.

Organization Sues Treasury Department to Reveal Shell Companies

The public radio program Reveal filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Treasury Department in hopes of getting the identities of shell companies made public.

The debate over California's housing crisis tends to center on the lack of housing and how much more housing needs to be built to meet demand.

But there's another part of the conversation that often gets left out. It has to do with who owns the housing that already exists.

The public radio program "Reveal" has found that 30 percent of California's residential real estate purchases in major cities, including San Diego, are being made by shell companies in cash. But who exactly is behind these companies?

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"Reveal" is suing the Treasury Department to find out.

Senior investigative reporter at "Reveal" Aaron Glantz and author of the new book, "Homewreckers," joined Midday Edition to talk about how this is impacting the state's housing crisis and denying first-time homebuyers from reaching the American dream.

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Jade Hindmon

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Jade Hindmon is KPBS Midday Edition co-host. Prior to making San Diego home, Jade worked in markets across the Southeast and Midwest, building a network of sources to tell the stories of people in each community. She worked as a multimedia journalist and anchor at WRTV in Indianapolis. While there, she launched “The Weekend Edition of Good Morning Indiana” and generated breaking news content for both broadcast and digital platforms. Prior to Indianapolis, she was an anchor and multimedia journalist at FOX Carolina in Greenville, SC. As part of that Emmy Award winning team, she covered elections, landed exclusive interviews, and interviewed presidential candidates. Jade also had the opportunity to cover international news and was able to travel to South Africa during the 2010 World Cup. Jade is a three-time Emmy nominee, a National Association of Black Journalists Salute to Excellence Finalist, and the recipient of a South Carolina Associated Press Award. She is a proud graduate of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University.

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Marissa Cabrera

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Marissa Cabrera worked as a producer for KPBS Midday Edition and had previously served as a Newscast Producer for KPBS' Morning Edition. Before joining KPBS she reported on Vatican affairs, social, and cultural issues in Rome, Italy. She also contributed to a documentary on sex abuse in the Catholic Church. Marissa has worked as a multimedia journalist at various news stations in San Diego and Monterey as well as Columbia, Missouri. Marissa graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism.

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