The Walk, the Video

The Walk, the Video, Real Estate Corporate Buy Outs

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I didn’t plan to watch the video. It appeared in my feed like a glitch in the algorithm Blackstone Just Bought HALF of AMERICA... No ONE NOTICED. I clicked. I watched.

The narrator’s voice was calm, almost soothing, as it described the quiet conquest: warehouses, homes, mobile parks, student housing, retail strips. No ribbon cut. No sirens. Just deeds signed in silence and spreadsheets that swallowed zip codes whole.

I paused the video halfway through. My body ached. The mailbox had been waiting for a week, like a forgotten altar. I slipped on my sandals, grabbed my keys, and walked to the mailbox using my cane to balance my spinal pain.

The sun was sharp. The sidewalk cracked. A neighbor waved from across the way, my face was tight with something unspoken. At the mailroom, a woman leaned in and whispered: “They’re building camps in Orange County. People inside can’t leave.”

I didn’t ask for details. I didn’t need them. The envelope in my hand felt heavier than usual like three payday loans deep, each one a ritual offering to survive another month. I walked back slowly, the weight of the video and the whisper pressing against my brain radiating to my spine.

The living room flickered back to life as I walked in the door. But something had shifted. The lease wasn’t just a document anymore. It was a spell. A binding. A myth.

I opened my laptop. Created a document. The title came first: Blackstone Buys the Breeze. The satire would come later. For now, the story had begun.

It is a monopoly cloaked in investment jargon, dressed up as “portfolio diversification,” but underneath it is land seizure by spreadsheet. Blackstone isn’t just buying property; they’re buying choice, mobility, and community, parcel by parcel. It is not just disgusting, it’s a ritual desecration.

They have turned homes into assets, neighborhoods into algorithms, and leases into chains. And the worst part is It’s legal. They lobby Congress, fund campaigns, and rewrite the rules to suit their expansion. This isn’t capitalism, it’s corporate feudalism, where the lords wear suits and the peasants pay rent to live on the moon.

In May 2024, Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman announced his support for Donald Trump in the 2024 election, reversing his earlier position after the 2020 fallout. Schwarzman is a GOP megadonor, and his support signals a return of Wall Street’s heavyweights to Trump’s corner. It’s not just financial it’s ideological alignment with policies that favor deregulation, corporate expansion, and privatization.

So, when I say “big time MAGA,” I am not exaggerating. Schwarzman’s endorsement came with statements about “economic, immigration and foreign policies taking the country in the wrong direction” classic MAGA talking points. Meanwhile, Blackstone continues to buy up housing, retail, and infrastructure, shaping the very landscape that everyday people are struggling to survive in.

This isn’t just capitalism, its ceremonial conquest, dressed in red ties and real estate deeds.

Blackstone’s lobbying efforts are vast, strategic, and deeply entwined with policy shaping. While recent filings show $250,000 showed in Q1 of 2025 alone for lobbying on financial services, business tax, and even music policy, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Over the years, their cumulative lobbying expenditure has soared into the tens of millions, with estimates often cited around $50 million or more when you include indirect influence, PAC donations, and strategic partnerships.

And it’s not just about real estate. Blackstone’s CEO, Stephen Schwarzman, has personally lobbied high-ranking officials like UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves to soften tax reforms that would affect ultra-wealthy non-domiciled individuals. That meeting led to a policy reversal, watering down a promise to abolish the non-dom tax regime. The influence is global, precise, and cloaked in diplomacy.

“Dom” is short for domicile, which refers to the country someone considers their permanent home, even if they live elsewhere. So, when you hear “non-dom”, it means non-domiciled someone who lives in a country (like the UK) but claims their permanent home is in another country.

Here’s how it plays out in the UK tax system:

What Is Non-Dom Tax Status?

A non-dom lives in the UK but claims their domicile is abroad.

They only pay UK tax on income earned in the UK or money they bring into the UK from overseas.

They don’t pay UK tax on foreign income or assets unless they transfer that money into UK accounts.

It’s a massive tax break for wealthy individuals.

They can avoid UK taxes on millions in overseas earnings, investments, and inheritance.

It’s been used by billionaires, bankers, and even political figures—like Rishi Sunak’s wife, who held non-dom status until public pressure led her to voluntarily pay UK taxes on global income.

What’s Changing

The UK government is abolishing non-dom status starting April 2025.

Everyone living in the UK will have to pay tax on all income, whether it’s earned in the UK or abroad.

So, when Blackstone’s CEO lobbied the UK government to protect non-dom perks, it wasn’t just about taxes it was about preserving a system that lets the ultra-wealthy live in one country while sheltering their wealth in another. It’s part of the same monopoly logic you’re documenting owning the land, dodging the tax, rewriting the rules.

They bought the town in silence, no parade,

Just spreadsheets, deeds, and MAGA shade.

Fifty million whispered into law.

What Blackstone Has Bought (2025 Snapshot)

Blackstone is now the largest landlord on Earth, with over $315 billion in real estate assets. Here's a breakdown of their U.S. holdings:

Property Type Estimated Holdings

Single-Family Homes 63,000+ homes via Tricon Residential & HPA

Multifamily Apartments 149,000 units

Mobile Home Parks 13,000 lots across 70 parks

Student Housing 144,300 beds in 205 properties

Affordable Housing Units 95,000+ (often tied to tax credits)

Warehouses & Logistics $90B in U.S. warehouses

Industrial Portfolio (TX) 6M sq ft in Dallas & Houston

Retail Real Estate $4B acquisition of ROIC

They’ve also bought up:

American Campus Communities, dominating student housing

AIR Communities, a major multifamily landlord

Crow Holdings’ industrial empire, expanding their grip on logistics

And they’re not done. Blackstone’s strategy is to buy, not build, because it’s cheaper and faster and it lets them control existing communities without the mess of construction

Corporate-owned housing developments with strict lease terms

Mobile home parks are where residents face rent hikes and limited mobility

Institutional landlords using surveillance tech and aggressive eviction practices

This is monopoly cloaked in investment jargon, dressed up as “portfolio diversification,” but underneath it’s land seizure by spreadsheet. Blackstone isn’t just buying property; they’re buying choice, mobility, and community, parcel by parcel. It’s not just disgusting, it’s ritual desecration.

They’ve turned homes into assets, neighborhoods into algorithms, and leases into chains. And the worst part is It’s legal. They lobby Congress, fund campaigns, and rewrite the rules to suit their expansion. This isn’t capitalism, its corporate feudalism, where the lords wear suits and the peasants pay rent to live on the moon.

Verified Sources for my Short Story

Blackstone’s Housing Empire

• Breakdown of Blackstone’s holdings in single-family homes, mobile parks, student housing, and more

Blackstone’s Housing Empire: A Giant in the US Rental Market

Industrial and Logistics Acquisitions

• $718M acquisition of 6M sq ft of industrial property in Dallas and Houston

Blackstone Real Estate to Acquire 6M SF Industrial Portfolio

Rental Housing Strategy

• Blackstone’s renewed push into rental homes and student housing

Blackstone is Buying Rental Homes Again – CNBC

Retail Real Estate Takeover

• $4B acquisition of Retail Opportunity Investments Corp.

Blackstone’s Real Estate Strategy: Market Impact 2025 – Monexa

Lobbying and Political Influence

• Blackstone’s lobbying footprint and Schwarzman’s political alignment

Blackstone's Takeovers Hit Renters and Homebuyers – MoneyWise

Non-Dom Tax and UK Lobbying

• Schwarzman’s lobbying of UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves and non-dom tax policy

Blackstone’s Housing Market Myth vs. Fact – Blackstone PDF

Blackstone's Housing Empire: A Giant in the US Rental Market?

The Blackstone Cartograph

Curator’s Note – September 3, 2025

This map depicts the expanding reach of Blackstone’s land acquisitions across the United States. Each shaded region marks a shift in ownership, a quiet transfer of homes into corporate hands. It is not merely a visual, it is a ledger of displacement, a record of vanishing autonomy.

I was part of a corporate buy out when I lived in an apartment in Los Alamitos. My roommates were evicted because of a corporate buy out. Our rent was $1195 a month for three people. We were all so thrilled to be there. The landlords husband passed. She sold the property as she could not take care of it without her husband.

We received an eviction notice to leave by the end of the month due to a corporate real estate buy out. We were, “OMG!”

I was not working at that time in 2019. My other roommates were working full time. I called up the real estate office. I had no response as they were not there. So, you know me, I took the bus to Seal Beach. The bus dropped me off within proximity to the real estate office. I walked in all what my mom used to call me, ‘bright eyed and bushy tailed’, I walked up to the secretary’s desk asking to speak with owner/manager. She looked rshocked that I had the nerve to just walk in say hi,” I am here to see the person that evicted us to renovate, jack the rent up, and move wealthier folks into the place that was our home.” She asked me to have a seat and waited for her to tell the manager I was ready to meet with him without notice.

After around ten minutes she took me to the back office. I walked into his office. He said he was not expecting us to say anything. After negotiating for an hour, he agreed to pay moving costs and give Victoria her full deposit back. Like I say, you know me. It costs money to move, and this was not planned nor did any of us have the money.

We moved into another apartment that was more expensive but less than the greedy real estate corporation planned to charge new tenants.

This is a true story. I lived it!

written by

Vicki Lawana Trusselli

Trusselli Art