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Most of my holdings are VTI, so I surely own some of RealPage and any other publicly traded firm like this. I don't care. Burn that entire part of the market. I

Most of my holdings are VTI, so I surely own some of RealPage and any other publicly traded firm like this. I don't care. Burn that entire part of the market. I cannot stomach that my investment returns are on the backs of the homeless.

aaomidi 2y ago
I agree. The whole point of these index funds are to be insulated from one company going under.
lotsofpulp 2y ago
As noted in the article, RealPage is owned by Thoma Bravo, which is not a publicly listed company.
- gruez 2y ago
  That's the company that makes the pricing service. That service is used by many more companies, many of which are presumably in the S&P 500.
strangattractor 2y ago
I had never really considered how a bunch of similar companies using the same SaaS might actually turn into a monopoly whether intentionally or not. Nice catch FBI or somebody;) Wonder if this is just the tip of an iceberg? What other industries might be doing similar things?
- throwup238 2y ago
  > Wonder if this is just the tip of an iceberg? What other industries might be doing similar things? Not SaaS specifically, but basically all of healthcare is monopolized through hospital group purchasing organizations.
- corford 2y ago
  Not sure about stateside but can confirm in Europe the competition law regulators are very hot on this - SaaS platforms being used (willingly or unwittingly) as hub & spoke cartels
- onjectic 2y ago
  Retail for one, all under the mask of “AI”. Just google “pricing optimization software”. https://www.trustradius.com/pricing-optimization https://www.trustradius.com/pricing-optimization
whiddershins 2y ago
This sounds like a clear criminal conspiracy, but nothing in this is directly about homelessness. This notion that homelessness is primarily driven by high rents stands up to zero scrutiny. Especially visible homelessness as in, the people you see sleeping on the street. That is driven by other public health epidemics such as drug addiction and untreated mental health issues. It’s important to get this right, or we won’t be able to solve either of these problems (skyrocketing rents & homelessness).
- llamaimperative 2y ago
  > This notion that homelessness is primarily driven by high rents stands up to zero scrutiny Ridiculous claim: https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2023/08/22/how-housing-costs-drive-levels-of-homelessness https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/...
  - thegrim33 2y ago
    Not taking a side one way or the other, but what you linked to is literally the definition of "correlation is not causation". They noted that in a handful of cities that over a 5 year period housing prices increased and homelessness increased. There's a (weak) correlation. That does not imply causation. There could be any number of explanations for why two things increased in the same time period without one causing the other.
    - llamaimperative 2y ago
      What GP said is it stands up "to zero scrutiny." That is an absolutely absurd claim. There is a mountain of evidence pointing to exactly this. Sure, correlation vs causation blah blah. This correlation persists even when controlling for most other variables people can think of: > A large body of academic research has consistently found that homelessness in an area is driven by housing costs, whether expressed in terms of rents, rent-to-income ratios, price-to-income ratios, or home prices. Further, changes in rents precipitate changes in rates of homelessness: homelessness increases when rents rise by amounts that low-income households cannot afford. Similarly, interventions to address housing costs by providing housing directly or through subsidies have been effective in reducing homelessness. That makes sense if housing costs are the main driver of homelessness, but not if other reasons are to blame. Studies show that other factors have a much smaller impact on homelessness. > Much of the research looks at the variation in homelessness among geographies and finds that housing costs explain far more of the difference in rates of homelessness than variables such as substance use disorder, mental health, weather, the strength of the social safety net, poverty, or economic conditions. Some vulnerabilities strongly influence which people are susceptible to homelessness, but research has repeatedly concluded that these factors play only a minor role in driving rates of homelessness compared with the role of housing costs. A platitude about correlation vs causation is downplaying what we know about this specific situation.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

aaomidi 2y ago

I agree. The whole point of these index funds are to be insulated from one company going under.

lotsofpulp 2y ago

As noted in the article, RealPage is owned by Thoma Bravo, which is not a publicly listed company.

gruez 2y ago
That's the company that makes the pricing service. That service is used by many more companies, many of which are presumably in the S&P 500.

strangattractor 2y ago

I had never really considered how a bunch of similar companies using the same SaaS might actually turn into a monopoly whether intentionally or not. Nice catch FBI or somebody;) Wonder if this is just the tip of an iceberg? What other industries might be doing similar things?

throwup238 2y ago
> Wonder if this is just the tip of an iceberg? What other industries might be doing similar things? Not SaaS specifically, but basically all of healthcare is monopolized through hospital group purchasing organizations.
corford 2y ago
Not sure about stateside but can confirm in Europe the competition law regulators are very hot on this - SaaS platforms being used (willingly or unwittingly) as hub & spoke cartels
onjectic 2y ago
Retail for one, all under the mask of “AI”. Just google “pricing optimization software”. https://www.trustradius.com/pricing-optimization https://www.trustradius.com/pricing-optimization

whiddershins 2y ago

This sounds like a clear criminal conspiracy, but nothing in this is directly about homelessness. This notion that homelessness is primarily driven by high rents stands up to zero scrutiny. Especially visible homelessness as in, the people you see sleeping on the street. That is driven by other public health epidemics such as drug addiction and untreated mental health issues. It’s important to get this right, or we won’t be able to solve either of these problems (skyrocketing rents & homelessness).

llamaimperative 2y ago
> This notion that homelessness is primarily driven by high rents stands up to zero scrutiny Ridiculous claim: https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2023/08/22/how-housing-costs-drive-levels-of-homelessness https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/...
- thegrim33 2y ago
  Not taking a side one way or the other, but what you linked to is literally the definition of "correlation is not causation". They noted that in a handful of cities that over a 5 year period housing prices increased and homelessness increased. There's a (weak) correlation. That does not imply causation. There could be any number of explanations for why two things increased in the same time period without one causing the other.
  - llamaimperative 2y ago
    What GP said is it stands up "to zero scrutiny." That is an absolutely absurd claim. There is a mountain of evidence pointing to exactly this. Sure, correlation vs causation blah blah. This correlation persists even when controlling for most other variables people can think of: > A large body of academic research has consistently found that homelessness in an area is driven by housing costs, whether expressed in terms of rents, rent-to-income ratios, price-to-income ratios, or home prices. Further, changes in rents precipitate changes in rates of homelessness: homelessness increases when rents rise by amounts that low-income households cannot afford. Similarly, interventions to address housing costs by providing housing directly or through subsidies have been effective in reducing homelessness. That makes sense if housing costs are the main driver of homelessness, but not if other reasons are to blame. Studies show that other factors have a much smaller impact on homelessness. > Much of the research looks at the variation in homelessness among geographies and finds that housing costs explain far more of the difference in rates of homelessness than variables such as substance use disorder, mental health, weather, the strength of the social safety net, poverty, or economic conditions. Some vulnerabilities strongly influence which people are susceptible to homelessness, but research has repeatedly concluded that these factors play only a minor role in driving rates of homelessness compared with the role of housing costs. A platitude about correlation vs causation is downplaying what we know about this specific situation.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]