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ATLANTA (CN) — A group of tenants, labor unions and affordable housing advocates gathered in front of the Georgia State Capitol on Wednesday to call on legislators to lift the state’s ban on rent control.
The “rally for rent control” comes a day after a House Governmental Affairs Committee held a hearing on a bill introduced by Democratic Representative Rhonda Taylor to repeal the ban.
Matthew Nursey, an organizer for the Housing Justice League, said Taylor has pushed the bill every year but Tuesday was the first time a hearing on it was held, indicating “a good sign of progress.”
“Georgia is ground zero for corporate landlords buying properties,” said Nursey.
“We have to have a cap on what these landlords can charge for rent.”
Georgia is one of 33 states that prohibit local governments from enacting rent control measures, meaning landlords can raise rents without restrictions.
This gives landlords the ability to raise rents by any amount when a lease expires or with proper notice. As a result, tenants in Georgia do not have the typical rent control protections against excessive rent increases.
Labor union members from the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades and Starbucks Workers United also expressed frustration with 46.1% of renters in Georgia spending at least 30% of their income on rent.
“We should be able to live in the neighborhoods we work in,” said Elexis Bernavil, a Starbucks employee and renter.
The call for action on Georgia lawmakers also comes a day after Democratic state Representative Phil Olaleye introduced House Bill 305, or what he called the “Protect the Dream Act.” The bipartisan bill would restrict hedge funds, corporations, and investment trusts from purchasing more than 25 single-family properties in a single county.
“There’s a consensus with all the information we have on large investment groups and corporate landlords coming in and funneling up all the properties, colluding with each other and using price fixing algorithms to set people’s rents,” said Nursey on the proposed legislation.
Such price-fixing algorithms were targeted in a federal lawsuit brought by the U.S. Justice Department last month against six major landlords that collectively operate more than 1.3 million units across 43 states.
An Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation found that since 2012, corporate buyers had bought up more than 65,000 single-family homes in 11 counties and that 11 companies each owned more than 1,000 homes. In four out of five census tracts where investors acquired homes, at least 50 homes since 2021 were majority-minority communities. In 45% of those census areas, 90% of the population was made up of minority residents, according to the investigation.
“Marginalized communities rent at significantly higher rates, so they are disproportionately impacted by rising rents,” said James Johnson, a member of the Asian American Advocacy Fund.
Johnson said he has had to move every year for the past four years because of landlords increasing rental costs at unjust rates.
“Our elders deserve to age in place without the stress of relocation. Our communities deserve to remain in neighborhoods where they have strong cultural ties and connections,” said Johnson.
Wall Street firms began buying up swathes of single-family homes across the country to rent out at high prices after the Great Recession. A December analysis from the Atlanta Regional Commission found that just seven corporations own over 50,000 single-family rental homes across metro Atlanta.
According to the data, the seven corporations own 51,252 single-family homes, which accounts for more than 97% of their collective statewide portfolio.
Atlanta was also named a “top city” for investor-owned rental homes, with an estimated 25% share of the single-family rental market in the city, or about 72,000 properties, according to a report released last year by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
From 2019 to 2023, the average rent in Georgia increased by 24%, the sixth-largest increase in the nation, according to data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
According to Zillow, the average rent for all bedrooms and all property types in Georgia is currently $1,950.
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