Intro –the documentary begins by introducing people to the following map. This map shows:
large rental properties throughout Ames, Iowa;
who owns each of them, as found on the county assessor’s office. Note that if the DEED OWNER was a business (which it usually is), we look up the business within the Secretary of State’s business entities search engine to find the “Registered Agent or Reserving Party” for the business, as well as their address. According to the Iowa’s Secretary of State and County Treasurer, the State of Iowa does not need to indicate who owns a business in Iowa, so the best we can do is the “Registered Agent or Reserving Party” (until Iowa fixes this). Wild Willpower PAC’s stance is that Iowans should know the natural person to whom they are doing business with – not just the business name. This information should be easily accessible, including a breakdown of shareholders and the percentages of the business they own, when applicable.
who manages the property.
how many rental units are in each property.
how much rent costs for each unit.
how much income in generated by the rental property per month.
estimated cost charged by property manager for managing the property.
estimated profit earned by the property.
The documentary goes on to select from a few of the “mega-rentals” (rental properties with 100+ units), to show who owns them. The audience receives a “bird’s eye view” on rentals and ownership. They see places such as The Quarters, owned by The Tailwind Group out of Mankato, MN, which vacuums out approximately $300,000/month from the pockets of Iowa residents, as well other mega-rentals which extract even more. When we discover the owner(s), we go into detail about some of the causes they fund (including influencing political elections). We detail several statistics (which can be found in Wild Willpower PAC’s national housing plan), including pointing out that the average renter in the U.S. spends HALF their paycheck on rent. This is not fair or sustainable.
While Wild Willpower PAC proposes “tax hikes and rent caps” on out-of-state landlords, we believe this does not go far enough in the long run. We also seek to require City Councils to zone for community garden spaces and/or “guaranteed access to soil” for tenants — something which doesn’t appear to be considered at all currently! We also propose that ALL landlords must report rental payments to the credit bureau in order to help bolster the credit of renters (who would qualify for loans if these payments had been entered into the credit bureau previously!).
The documentary will interview tenants, land owners, and others to give their perspectives on this situation, exposing (from a tenant’s perspective why “the rental dynamic” appears to be modern day feudalism.
Production Delayed, Investors Needed:
Who Owns Ames, Iowa has been halted and is currently on the backburner (if interested in helping to fund this project, email [email protected]).
List of Rental Units:
Need to select a few mega-rentals to make our focus of the documentary.
