Legislation stuck in City Hall limbo aims to prevent property owners who’re housing code scofflaws from securing municipal subsidies — and could even claw them back retroactively.
If adopted, the measure could preclude problematic landlords from taking advantage of city benefits, including tax breaks from Invest Atlanta and rent voucher contracts from Atlanta Housing.
Atlanta City Councilmember Byron Amos in February proposed the resolution “to urge the mayor, Invest Atlanta, and Atlanta Housing to refrain from providing public funds or tax abatement to recipients with unadjudicated criminal or civil cases against properties they own.”
In short, landlords with pending code violations for neglecting necessary upkeep or allowing unsafe living conditions for tenants — like those named in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s “Dangerous Dwellings” series — would be financially penalized.
“If developers are receiving public funds to operate in our city, then they should respect the neighborhoods in which they operate,” Amos told Atlanta Civic Circle Wednesday. “In my opinion, they should not receive public funds [if] their properties are subpar.”
But since February, Amos’ proposal has lingered in the council’s Community Development and Human Services Committee. Essentially, city leaders still aren’t sure how to put it into practice.
“I asked for it to be held [in committee] to allow my office, the administration, and our legal department time to work on the language of the legislation to ensure that it is accurate, fair, and equitable,” Amos said. “There’s no timeline on when it will move forward.”
One of the main stumbling blocks: a clause in the resolution that says, “This withholding of funds will extend retroactively to the year 2022, ensuring accountability for past actions and fostering a culture of legal compliance and responsibility.”
Asked how the retroactive directive would work, and how it could be enforced, Amos said: “These are two questions that we are working to answer now.”
In theory, the legislation would apply to landlords that the city is investigating through its Safe and Secure Housing push, which has initiated housing code enforcement and oversight actions against 27 properties since it launched last May.
But the legislation does not yet make clear how residents at the properties under investigation for code violations could be affected. For instance, what happens if an apartment complex loses the rent voucher contract that helps low-income residents afford housing?
Invest Atlanta and Atlanta Housing did not respond to a list of questions by publication time.
The sad truth is affordable housing in Atlanta is an endangered species. Until theres a serious commitment made, as there was in the days of FDR, I dont think the city’s in any position to go after slum lords. Unfortunately, they are serving the underserved with many residents still being left out. Perhaps a policy change that doesn’t provide massive amounts of welfare to the developers and instead props up those in need of stabilization with actual investments in housing programs would be an option. Idealism, admittedly, but the fact is Atlanta’s housing projects are remembered for the way they were mismanaged and ruined; but they did not begin that way or ever have to wind up like that and many benefitted from the opportunity to call them home. Nowadays, paying 80% of area ami might allow developers and officials to call something affordable housing, but it definitely is not.