Who owns rentals may play a really big role in affordability for families across the country –and maybe even homelessness.

This article, while a little strident in it’s tone, points to a problem that I outlined in a previous post about the number of evictions we are seeing in America today.

Listen to this podcast from On the Media, which aired last year. It gives a very compelling picture of a rental market that is now dominated by large investment companies or even property management companies that are employed by individual property owners.

This automation of the rental process leads to less leniency for renters when they are late on their rent.

This is a problem in a country where lower income workers are having a harder time paying for everything from rent to medical bills on less livable wages.

That lack of leniency leads to situations where renters are tagged with what the On the Media reporter Brook Gladstone called the Scarlett E. That’s “E” for for “eviction”.

That tag follows the renter so that they are relegated to less and less desirable properties, thus destabilizing their lives even further.

The most compelling point in this ownership dynamic is the increase in the number of properties owned by individuals and families from 92% in 1991 to 74% in 2015.

With the rise of mega-buyers like Zillow and other investor groups, this number could be even lower.

I’ve spoken about the problem of these mega buyers. They take homes out of circulation so that they are not available for other buyers, thus creating scarcity and elevating the over-all price of homes. Thus making home ownership even harder.

As we see an increase in homelessness, we need to be aware of those living on the margins. They are the first ones (families and children) who drop from barely making it to living on the street.