Nikole Hannah-Jones slams Jay-Z and Will Smith's rent-to-own housing startup as 'predatory'

• Nikole Hannah-Jones ripped a start-up firm backed by Jay-Z and Will Smith as "predatory."
• Jay-Z's Roc Nation and Smith's Dreamers VC recently invested in the start-up Landis Technologies.
• The firm aims to help low-income renters own a home.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones has slammed a tech startup firm - financially backed by Jay-Z and Will Smith - that aims to help low-income renters own a home as "predatory."

"Credit counseling is not what will take low-income renters to homeowners, wealth will," Hannah-Jones said in a tweet posted earlier this month.

Hannah-Jones added, "All this program does is charge struggling people additional fees for being poor, which is what every other predatory lender does."

-Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) August 1, 2021

The tweet linked to an article about how Jay-Z's Roc Nation and Smith's Dreamers VC recently invested in the start-up Landis Technologies.

According to its website, the company "helps renters transition to homeownership."

"We allow our customers to select their dream home and rent it for up to 2 years while they get ready for a mortgage," the site says. "We also offer tools and incentives to our customers to improve their credit and build up their down payment."

The start-up has raised $165 million from a group of investors including Jay-Z's Roc Nation, Smith's Dreamers VC, and Sequoia Capital, Fortune reported.

Reps for Roc Nation, Dreamers VC, and Landis Technologies did not immediately return Insider's requests for comment on Monday.