Newark Mayor Ras Baraka has announced new initiatives to lessen the number of corporations buying owner-occupied homes in the city and turning them into rentals. The practice tends to mark up the price of the homes, preventing residents from purchasing them.

Baraka’s plan includes banning solicitation without residents’ permission, requiring LLCs to disclose a business name and contact information when buying property and charging landlords a fee whose properties are not rent-controlled.

"On the one hand, it signals that people are interested in Newark and interested in Newark's growth and future. On the other hand, they are taking full advantage of that by purchasing all of the properties that they can get their hands on through foreclosure and private sales,” Baraka said.

A recent report from Rutgers University-Newark found that corporations made nearly half of real estate sales in Newark in 2020.