OK, long thread, re: the predatory Rhino bill:
What this bill does is create a situation where landlords who own 10 properties or more would have to offer tenants one of two options: To pay their security deposits in 3 installments, or utilize a surety bond company. #VetoRhino

If the landlord offers the latter, the tenant would pay a monthly fee (as well as other administrative fees, which can be unclear, hidden, and changing) to the surety and the landlord could file for claims of damages as they're alleged to happen.

Technically, surety lenders are legal here at the moment, but this bill would codify their use by making landlords offer them as an option. Very likely, landlords would not choose the option of equal security deposit installments that they themselves would oversee,

because the surety company would pay them out more quickly and be able to act as a middleman to shield the landlord from accountability for filing potentially false claims.

The surety would pay the landlord and the tenant would then be liable for the bill to the surety, and would have limited options for disputing it since it doesn't go through the court system, the contract forces the tenant into mandatory arbitration, and the tenant does not have

the practical ability to dispute the claim prior to the surety quickly paying the landlord and then charging the tenant. This could mean that someone who was, at one point, able to pay $20/mo. or something like that, to the surety could then be liable for thousands of dollars.

If the tenant does not pay that fee, the surety still retains full rights to go after the tenant for debt collection, take them to court, and report the lack of payment to the credit bureaus.

This bill came about bc Rhino, a surety lender that falsely advertises itself as "security deposit insurance," has been targeting a # of post-industrial cities w/ housing crises via lobbying during state legislative sessions, while many housing advocates are focused elsewhere.

This is what happened in Baltimore City. Rhino calls itself insurance, but it's not. Unlike any other form of insurance, the tenant is not covered when the landlord makes a claim. Instead, Rhino can then sue the tenant based on the landlord's claim.

Rhino promotes this product as a "Renter's Choice," but that is wholly deceptive: It's exploiting the fact that it would be appealing to folks unable to afford to save for a security deposit to sign their contract with the promise of low monthly fees.

However, once they sign that contract, the aforementioned strings are all attached and it can become even more expensive to be poor.

Council President Nick Mosby and Council Vice President Sharon Green Middleton were lobbied incredibly hard by Rhino, which is a company that only started in 2017 with funding from venture capitalists at a group called Kairos.

Both @sayrhino & Kairos are based in NYC, & the former has a longtime landlord for its CEO. Mosby and Middleton have appeared on Rhino's astroturfing "Renter's Choice" site and in the press touting how effective Rhino is, despite it not being in play in Baltimore yet, an unproven

track record, and terrible ratings from the Better Business Bureau that all claim deceptive practices, hidden fees, poor customer service, and unexpectedly high bills out of nowhere.

Instead of listening to myriad housing attorneys, advocates, and tenants who urged the City Council to vote no on this bill, @Nick_Mosby fast-tracked it and it's on @MayorBMScott's desk now.

A lot of the marketing surrounding this bill hinges on the idea that security deposits are overly expensive and prevent folks from having affordable housing. Which, I mean, true. Security deposits are a huge issue, but this bill doesn't solve that problem.

This bill takes an old, predatory form of lending that's wrapped in a shiny new startup package, and pretends it's anywhere close to security deposit caps, actual rent control, or greater protections for tenants.

It would, in fact, harm tenants who are already housing insecure and create greater incentives for landlords to abuse the tenant with impunity. Quite frankly, the surety model is a scam and so is this bill.

Anyway, thank you for reading my little explainer here. PLEASE USE the now-updated @b_renters form at https://bit.ly/3vd6SwX  to easily email the mayor AND your councilperson to ask the former to #VetoRhino and the latter to support that veto!