Today Donald Trump stands on the rally stage as an ex-president seeking to return to the White House. To most Americans, and to most people around the world, he is known as a viciously right-wing politician. To the extent that people remember his previous career, many recall him as a television personality who played the part of a ruthless businessman. But behind it all, he is and forever will be one thing: a multigenerational real estate schmuck.

Donald’s paternal grandfather, Frederick, got his start in real estate by building saloons and brothels near rail depots and mining towns in Washington State and the Yukon. His son Fred, Donald’s father, built up a Brooklyn- and Queens-based subsidized housing real estate empire that relied on a combination of fraud and racial segregation to achieve its success. Donald made the jump to luxury development in Manhattan through a blend of misbegotten tax breaks and wage theft. His children appear to be reinventing their father’s schemes, including by defrauding investors and overvaluing their developments.

In part as a result of all this — and of the actions of many more just like them — New York is reeling from a deep housing affordability crisis. While mayors and governors have primarily sought to resolve this crisis through zoning reforms, the city’s tenant and homeless movements have pushed for a combination of stronger rent controls, robust rental assistance, and social housing production.