The myth of the good landlord: Neoliberal urban governance and the politics of racialized class-monopoly rent in Syracuse, NY

Abstract

Critical urban researchers have long sought to understand the dynamics of exploitation in low-income rental markets, especially since the 2008 financial crisis which expanded renting in U.S. cities. However, scholars have paid less attention to how landlords advance their class interests and shape urban governance within neoliberal contexts. Drawing on interviews and participant observation of landlords in Syracuse, NY, this study shows how landlords in high-poverty rental markets leverage free-market logics to construct a positive image of themselves and advocate for deregulation. As the City of Syracuse pursues revitalization through public–private partnerships and targeted redevelopment, landlords invoke anxieties of postindustrial decline and position themselves as drivers of economic development and service providers to vulnerable tenants. They argue that regulatory rollback is the only way for Syracuse to attract outside investment and revitalize. Despite their stated support for revitalization, many landlords remain materially invested in declining housing markets structured by racial segregation and housing scarcity—conditions that enable their extraction of class-monopoly rents. By positioning themselves as important contributors to Syracuse's economy and by advocating for deregulation, they work to reproduce the conditions that enable their appropriation of racialized class-monopoly rent.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Human Geography, 2026 · DOI ↗