a day ago
‘Black Mecca' no longer? Atlanta prices cause families to move out of the city
The City of Atlanta is not considered 'The Black Mecca' any longer, according to a national study.
The reason - Black people can't afford to live in the city anymore or don't want to pay inflated prices.
We spoke to several Atlanta natives and those who moved here for college and didn't want to leave. They all feel forced out of the city, like Latresa Chaney.
'I grew here – I wasn't trying to leave OK ... Hey if you ain't rich – you can't live here – you got to go somewhere,' said Latresa Chaney.
She told Channel 2's Tyisha Fernandes that for the first time, she had to move her family out of the city - to Decatur.
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'I'm transitioning my children from school to school behind trying to have stable housing,' said Chaney.
She lived in the Forest Cove Apartments until city officials condemned the complex and tore it down.
She told Fernandes, elected officials promised to relocate her in the city using her Section 8 voucher, which she says never happened.
'You displaced 300 families ... I felt so let down – like I've invested my life here,' said Chaney.
Civil Rights Activist Devin Barrington-Ward says people who made up the Black Mecca didn't move out to the suburbs because they wanted to. He said a lack of policy displaced them.
For the past two decades, Ward says elected officials have made it easier for out-of-state investors to afford homes, rather than homegrown people.
He says it's the reason why investors own 30% of single-family homes in the city.
'When we see what type of money is being given to corporate developers – as far as tax breaks from the city and the county - of course Black folks would no longer be able to afford to live in the city of Atlanta. These are policy decisions being made by people who are in elected office,' said Ward.
According to data from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition - Atlanta had the second highest amount of census tracks to flip from majority Black to white between 1980 - 2020. Only Washington, D.C had more.
'Everything that I liked, everything that I could see myself in, it was just impossible,' said Clark Atlanta Graduate Jahmel Terrell.
Jahmel has a different situation, but the same struggles owning a home in Atlanta.
'It makes you feel unworthy – undeserving – you can't afford this,' said Terrell.
After he graduated from Clark Atlanta University, he worked as a civil servant for 25 years and still couldn't afford a home in the city.
His plan is to rent outside the city until he can save enough money to buy a home.
Maja Sly is an affordable housing advocate and realtor who has been helping Terrell achieve his dream.
'We have home prices that have gone up $100,000 for the same size unit since 2021. In Summerhill a 1,200 square-foot townhome is $600,000,' said Sly.
Sly says the prices won't change. However, she says Atlanta is different than other cities because it offers resources people don't know about.
'We have the best programs, not just in the state of Georgia but in the city of Atlanta – to make home ownership affordable. It's gentrification on paper, but there's a bigger story that has to be told about this,' said Sly.
A city spokesperson told Fernandes that programs like InvestAtlanta are designed to help legacy residents on a case-by-case basis.
Many rights activists say that's not enough to solve the systemic issue of racial and wealth inequality in Atlanta.
'Until we see that the level of funding that is given to invest in people – everyday working class people matches that of what we're giving wealthy out of town developers – it is just a Band-aid on a bullet wound,' said Ward.
OTHER RESOURCES:
Georgia Dream Homeownership Program
Atlanta Housing
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