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“We’re pretty comfortable with what we do, which is primarily affordable housing,” he says, adding that other owners “manage their buildings much more aggressively.” In fact, the per-unit cost of UPACA 7 comes out to $59,700 per unit – which looks cheap compared to the prices above. Even the 101-unit building at 1520 Sedgwick yields a cost per unit of $89,100.
But local organizers argue that Tahl-Propp is predatory because it has paid far more than the rents can support and is seeking to increase income from most of its buildings. “They face extreme, extreme pressures to make a profit,” says Dina Levy, director of organizing and policy at the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (which is City Limits' landlord), who is working with a number of Tahl-Propp’s buildings. At one meeting with state regulators, she says, Tahl stated that he’s not content with a 6 percent return on his buildings, and would find ways to raise his profits. Says Levy: “Everything is fungible: real estate is real estate is real estate, and all buildings should make huge profits. This is the exact definition of predatory equity. Every piece of tangible evidence suggests that they’re not good guys and they don’t care about affordable housing.”
