DoctorSeumalu Elora Raymond

My first-authored research on private equity landlords and evictions began in 2016, and was published in prominent, peer reviewed housing policy venues such as Federal Reserve Bank discussion paper series, HUD's Cityscape, Housing Policy Debate, and the Urban Institute's Housing Crisis Research Collaborative. Other articles were published in high impact factor Geography journals like Human Progress in Geography and Urban Geography. This work was the first to document tenant abuses by private equity landlords, and to predict that private equity would continue to grow market share, rather than exiting housing markets once prices recovered from the foreclosure crisis. This research was featured in the national news - the NY Times, the Washington Post, the Economist, Good Morning America, among other venues. I worked extensively with two journalists who produced long form journalism on the topic, one with REVEAL, which was syndicated through National Public Radio and other platforms; and one with Bloomberg's Businessweek. Several of these papers in this stream of research have over 100 citations; the 2021 paper in Housing Policy Debate won a best paper award. In 2022, I presented on research published in 2018 and 2021 before the Biden administration's White House Domestic Policy Council and Interagency Policy Committee on my research on tenant rights and the rise of private equity landlords. These small, closed session councils report directly to the cabinet. I was also invited to testify publicly before the US Congress in 2022 twice - once for the House Committee on Financial Services Committee and once for the House Committee on Ways and Means. I was subsequently invited to a panel discussion with FTC Chair Lina Khan, and to present before Housing and Urban Development's PD&R panel. I was among a handful of researchers promoting the formation of a federal rental registry, ending subsidies by government mortgage giants for private equity investments in single family homes, and taking an anti-trust approach to private equity landlords. This advocacy contributed to the development of Biden's Blueprint for Tenant Rights released in 2023.

We raised national and local awareness of the extremely high eviction rate in Atlanta, Georgia by created an eviction data tool. This led to the drafting and passage of House Bill 404, which added a three day notice period to an eviction filing, and are the first tenant protections passed into Georgia law in a generation.

In this research, beginning in 2018, I worked with non-profits in Los Angeles to understand housing challenges and solutions for Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in the LA Region. This led to a housing report for Empowering Pacific Islander Communities in 2024 and in 2025 that led to the inclusion of mortgage metrics in their annual reporting. During 2022 testimony before Congress's House Committee on Ways and Means, I was able to place a question with HR Judy Chu (D-CA) and enter the results of research on housing distress among Pacific Islanders into the congressional record. This research with urban planning issues continues with a paper accepted for publication that advocates for alternative tenures and community land trust style housing solutions. This work with Pacific Islanders in the diaspora continues at UC, with community engaged research with local government, organizations and schools to understand housing and community assets and policy avenues for improvement.

The ADB worked with the Samoan government to pass the Land Titles Registration Act in 2008, which had loopholes that could undermine the customary land framework in Samoa. I worked with a nonprofit and four matai to bring a complaint to the ADB; this resulted in the passage of a law in 2015 by the Samoan parliament to close the loophole that had been created.

Since joining UC, I've worked with a team to advocate for American Samoans who are facing the onset of Deep Seabed Mining in AS waters. This work has led to ongoing advocacy around seabed and fishing rights with the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration