ATLANTA — The City of Atlanta is working to bring relief to renters facing a growing crisis. A housing crunch, plus the rising cost of rent, have left many tenants in a bind.
District 5 City Councilwoman Liliana Bakhtiari said because the state of Georgia tends to side with landlord protections, local governments have to get creative in expanding renters' rights and resources.
"We cannot do rent control," Bakhtiari said. "We can't do caps on how much rent can grow in a year. We can't stop LLC's or hedge funds or outside investors from buying up houses by the block in Atlanta. So we have to get very creative with how we fight back against an unregulated and unchecked market."
This week, Atlanta City Council passed two resolutions. The first establishes "Access to Counsel" and sets aside $500,000 to offer free legal counsel to fight evictions, working with the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation.
"It will enable people in our hardest-hit communities facing evictions to have free access to a lawyer and the system to fight the eviction process," Bakhtiari said. "We had over 16,000 evictions filed during the pandemic, and we’ve currently got an 11,000 case backlog, so there’s a huge demand for a service like this.”
The second resolution urges the Fulton County District Attorney's Office to crack down on negligent landlords. It calls for more investigations into violations of the city's housing code and demands more accountability on safety standards.
"We have property owners refusing to take care of their properties, and it’s creating a hazard for the neighborhood because of infestations or because of dead trees in the backyard falling on other people’s properties," Bakhtiari said. "There's a balance. You don’t want to penalize people that are trying to get back on their feet, but we do want to penalize the people holding onto the properties, sitting on them, mismanaging them, not being responsible and feeding into more crime and health hazards.”
11Alive reached out to the Fulton DA's Office for comment on the resolution but did not hear back.
Another option for rental help is through the Salvation Army and the United Way of Greater Atlanta. Both have already spent millions in federal funds and donations to help thousands of families with rental and utility assistance. These organizations and their affiliates also have millions more in funding for those who are eligible for the money.
"We are seeing a pretty hefty increase in the requests for rental assistance,” Sgt. Janeane Schmidt said, social services director with the Salvation Army of Greater Atlanta. “The housing demand is so high right now that it’s easier to move some of these people out and then increase the rental rate to bring other people in.”
Schmidt said COVID remains a factor, especially with recent surges forcing many people out of job stability. She said her organization has recently put more effort into streamlining the application process and making it easier for people to apply on the go.
Schmidt said the urgent need of rental assistance comes at a critical time. Atlanta lost nearly 10,000 affordable rental units from 2014-2019, per the Atlanta Regional Commission, just before the pandemic hit. She said it's likely the pandemic exacerbated the rental crisis, and many more people could face homelessness if they can't receive desperately needed resources.
"They may have to live in a shelter environment," Schmidt said. "They may end up living on the street. All of those things, when you become homeless, you’re more likely to be a victim of crime and have less access to health services. All the negative things that can happen to you escalate once you become homeless.”
For more on rental assistance, click here.