by Stanley Dunlap, Georgia Recorder
March 24, 2025

A coalition of housing rights advocates are feeling disappointed heading into the homestretch of the 2025 legislative session after seeing little progress on bipartisan bills aimed at protecting Georgians from higher rents, problematic landlords and increasing threats of eviction.

Habitat for Humanity Northwest Metro Atlanta and House ATL are among the three dozen housing non-profits, civil rights groups, and faith-based organizations that have spent the session pushing for legislation regulating corporate-owned single-family homes and calling for the state to keep alive a federal emergency rental assistance program that runs out later later this year.

Despite backing multiple bipartisan bills this year, a leading voice in Georgia’s housing advocacy coalition says she sees a bleak outlook for the rest of the session.

“It’s grim especially given how much recognition is now of the importance of housing people as a foundation for strong communities, strong families,” said Elizabeth Appley, an attorney and public policy advocate for housing rights in Georgia. “There’s really no way for people to succeed without decent, safe and affordable places to live.”

A key housing bill that failed to meet the March 6 deadline to advance through one chamber was House Bill 689. The bill was sponsored by Dalton Republican Rep. Kasey Carpenter would continue the Georgia Rental Assistance Program, which was launched in March 2021 with $1 billion in federal emergency rental assistance money.

The housing rights advocates are pushing for $25 million in next year’s state budget to be allocated for the rental assistance program.

The measure calls for the creation of a homeless prevention program that would provide resources such as legal support to unhoused and low-income individuals.

The proposed 2026 budget includes $4 million for the State Housing Trust Fund or homeless intervention.

Appley said that the Georgia Housing Voucher Program remains underfunded and has only been able to provide housing to about 20 people since April 1.

“We’re hoping that could be used for these flexible local grants for emergency rental assistance, but it would need to be substantially increased in order to continue what the department is doing now with the federal funds that will expire in September,” Appley said.

A $1.7 million increase is included in next year’s proposed budget to support adult mental health services through a housing voucher program administered by the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities.

The Georgia Housing Coalition is advocating for a $20 million state grant for a program that provides supportive housing and wraparound services to chronically unhoused individuals with persistent mental illnesses.

Housing rights groups are hoping for the passage of Stone Mountain Democratic Sen. Kim Jackson’s Senate Bill 170, which would create an Interagency Council on Homelessness. A vote on the bipartisan bill could take place in the House Governmental Affairs Committee in the next week.

Housing rights groups have also seen some traction gained with measures they oppose.

The Senate Public Safety Committee could take up as early as Monday a substitute of House Bill 61. A measure about issuing license plates for ambulances and hearses now includes language that critics say would violate the rights of people accused of illegally staying in a home without permission.

There has been some success for a housing coalition-backed bill targeting the proliferation of investor-owned homes, primarily around metro Atlanta.

The House passed a bipartisan bill by a 163-4 vote that supporters say would hold out-of-state landlords accountable for managing single-family homes in Georgia.

House Bill 399 would require landlords owning 25 or more single-family homes to employ local brokers or real estate agents and have in-state staff to handle tenant complaints.

“If you are a single family, young family, looking to purchase a home, these investors are taking assets out of Georgia,” said bill sponsor Decatur Democratic Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver during debate on March 3. “They’re making a profit on the rent that’s charged. They’re making profit on the acceleration of home values and that profit is not being enjoyed by young Georgia families looking to purchase a home.”

Another bipartisan bill that has stalled this session is House Bill 555, which would prohibit investors from owning an interest in more than 2,000 single-family residential properties or 10 multifamily residential properties. The Georgians First Residential Property Protection Act, sponsored by Rep. Derrick McCollum, a  Chestnut Mountain Republican, would also enforce penalties such as forcing the residential property owners to return rental payments when a lease is found to be unlawful.

The bill also targets the rise in investor-owned housing that has lowered the affordability of homes in metro Atlanta neighborhoods. An Atlanta Regional Commission report in November found that seven corporations own more than 51,000 single-family rental homes across 21 counties around the area.

Housing rights groups also criticized Georgia lawmakers’ failure so far in passing legislation that would provide people living long-term in extended stay housing with the same legal tenant rights as people renting an apartment.

Appley said she recently received an email from a family that had been paying daily for several months for a room at an extended stay hotel who had their possessions left outside the hotel because the family missed an 11 a.m. checkout time once.

Warnock introduces federal housing bills

U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, who is a Democrat, is attempting to drive down the high cost of living in Georgia by recently introducing a package of bills including the Downpayment Toward Equity  Act, the Rent Relief Act, the Stop Preparatory Investing Act and the American Housing and Economic Mobility Act.

Warnock emphasized the need for bipartisan support to tackle the housing crisis, which disproportionately affects young people and renters. He also criticized private equity firms for buying up housing stock, especially in the Atlanta area, resulting in soaring rental costs and the need for policies that increase housing supply to mitigate the crisis and support generational wealth.

“We need to listen to the people and people all across Georgia — Democrats, Republicans, independents — all agree that we have a severe housing issue that is crushing young people,” Warnock said during press conference last week. “Housing is not a partisan issue.

“I say to those that support the free market, and certainly I do that, you ought to look at what this housing crisis is doing to the American market,” Warnock said. “We are seeing generational wealth shift, literally from the young to the old, and that doesn’t bode well for the future of our economy.”

Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor John McCosh for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com.

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