11-03-2025
Atlanta Residents' Calls for Rent Control Ignored by Lawmakers
Atlanta Housing Justice League Executive Director Alison Johnson expressed anger and regret on Monday after bills backed by her organization failed to advance before the legislature's Thursday Crossover Day deadline.
Failure to pass related bills in the state House or the state Senate by the end of Crossover Day means it's unlikely Georgia's legislature will pass any new laws addressing housing affordability this year, despite determined efforts by Johnson and her allies.
'We're deeply disappointed that housing, again, is not a priority with our elected officials,' Johnson told Capital B Atlanta on Monday. 'We can't wait, and we ain't going to wait until next year to continue to protest, to continue to elevate our voices and bring the people with us who are impacted by this [affordable housing] crisis.'
At least 100 mostly Black renters from across the state traveled to the Gold Dome on Feb. 26 with Johnson and other affordable housing advocacy groups, including leaders of Georgia Advancing Communities Together, to demonstrate and lobby in support of rent control and other policy ideas aimed at reducing the cost of housing, which remains a top priority for Black voters this year.
An Atlanta Regional Commission report released in December found nearly 60% of Black folks in the area are considered 'cost-burdened renters,' meaning they spend at least 30% of their income on rent. That's slightly higher than the estimated 56% national average for cost-burdened Black renters, according to the report.
As a result, metro Atlanta's homeless population is expected to increase for the third consecutive year after increasing 33% year over year in 2023 and 7% in 2024. Still, as of now, the pro-rent regulation lobbying efforts of affordable housing advocates and the communities they support appear to be in vain.
Georgia Democrats, including Reps. Jasmine Clark, D-Lilburn, and Derrick Jackson, D-Tyrone, say Republican leaders — who have maintained majority control of both legislative chambers inside the Gold Dome for two decades — are the biggest obstacles to state lawmakers passing legislation that could help Black Georgians in desperate need of rent relief, which Clark referred to as 'business as usual' at the Capitol.
'We have a lot of people who say they want to do something about affordable housing,' Clark said. 'They say they care about Georgians and their struggles. They say they want to do right by working Georgians. But then when you present them with opportunities to do those things, those bills don't even get so much as a hearing.'
When asked on Monday why he declined to allow a pair of key housing-related bills to receive an up-or-down vote ahead of Crossover Day, state Rep. Victor Anderson, R-Cornelia, said he didn't think the measures were ready for a vote yet.
'I really don't know if there is a short-term solution,' Anderson told Capital B Atlanta of the state's affordable housing crisis on Monday. 'The process that we have here takes time, unfortunately. But the understanding of the issue and the problem has to make its way through enough people to where we can get some momentum to make it happen.'
Anderson acknowledged that state lawmakers have already spent years examining Georgia's rent and housing supply-related concerns, and have considered similar measures to address the problem during past legislative sessions. Yet he maintained that related bills — including House Bill 299, which would repeal a statewide ban on rent regulation, and HB 305, which would limit the ability of wealthy investors to purchase and convert large volumes of single-family homes in Georgia into rentals — still needed to be refined before being voted on.
HB 299 and HB 305 are just two of the housing-related bills that were assigned earlier this year to the state House's Government Affairs Committee, where Anderson serves as chairman. He noted that the committee's members advanced HB 399, a measure that would require out-of-state landlords who own at least 25 single-family homes or duplexes in Georgia to hire at least one in-state staffer to address tenant concerns.
'We're working with the authors on those [bills],' Anderson continued. 'We're trying to get to a point where we've got something that can provide some relief and some assistance.'
Republican leaders have suggested repealing the statewide ban on rent regulation and limiting investors from buying single-family homes would violate the free market ideals their party tends to favor.
Gov. Brian Kemp has supported other potential solutions to the state's affordable housing crisis, including the Rural Workforce Housing Initiative, which his office says has awarded more than $42 million in infrastructure grants to 21 rural communities.
'An overwhelming majority of these grants have been awarded to communities whose population is predominantly made up of Black Georgians,' Kemp press secretary Garrison Douglas told Capital B Atlanta via email on Tuesday.
Kemp says the property tax relief Republicans have backed via the new HB 581 homestead exemption, which voters approved in November, and multiple tax cuts, rebates, and suspensions have put $7.6 billion back in the pockets of Georgians struggling with higher housing costs and overall inflation.
The city of Atlanta and other local governments have opted out of HB 581. Some argue the tax break benefits corporate landlords more than individual homeowners and will starve cities of much-needed tax revenue that would hurt their ability to service taxpayers effectively.
Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, noted his party's support for the Safe At Home Act last year, in addition to the launch of the Georgia Dream Homeownership Program nearly a year ago.
The Georgia Dream program provides higher income limits and maximum home purchase prices so more homebuyers can take advantage of market-rate Federal Housing Administration loans.
'The General Assembly will continue to support measures that lower costs for our citizens and increase access to housing — all while protecting the free-market principles that keep our state the best place in the nation to do business,' Burns said in an emailed statement.
Johnson, the Atlanta Housing Justice League director, noted that it's still possible for standalone bills that didn't get passed in either legislative chamber before Friday to be added as amendments to measures that did. She encouraged those who want state lawmakers to do more to address Georgia's affordable housing crisis to contact Republican leaders like Kemp, Anderson, Burns, and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones.
'People need to be reaching out to them,' she said. 'People need to be calling them. People need to be holding them accountable as well.'
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