The city of Roswell relocated dozens of extended-stay motel residents after deeming the property a public health hazard. College Park officials condemned dilapidated apartments and told renters they must move out by June. A developer in Marietta wants to replace an affordable housing complex with flashy new residences.
Over the last month, three distinct stories of low-income suburban renters facing displacement have underscored a broader reality: Housing insecurity challenges driven by mismanagement and gentrification aren’t confined to big cities.
Campus Edge
Devin Lantz pays $600 a month for a one-bedroom apartment neighboring Kennesaw State University’s Marietta campus. But if Campus Edge’s new owner—a real estate investor called Campus Realty Advisors—has its way, Lantz and about 200 neighbors will be thrust into metro Atlanta’s increasingly expensive housing market.
Unbeknownst to many renters, the Marietta City Council rezoned the Campus Edge property in March, teeing up its demolition and redevelopment as high-end apartments. The developer, which could not be reached for comment, plans to terminate tenants’ leases in late July.
Lantz signed a new lease in April.
“It’s frustrating,” he said. “I have no idea what I’ll do if I can’t stay here. I’m looking around [for another apartment], but I’d prefer to stay. Everything else is hundreds of dollars more.”
Indeed, the average rent price for a one-bedroom unit in Marietta is nearly $1,300 — more than twice what many Campus Edge tenants pay.
Upon learning about the new owner’s plans, Shelby Stansberry, another resident and KSU dining hall employee, organized a tenant group to stop the demolition. At the very least, her group, the Campus Edge Tenants Association, wants assurance that they’ll get security deposits back after the lease terminations.
“This has been devastating,” she said. “My job requires two weeks’ notice to take time off, and now I have to find a place very last-minute. How am I going to afford new application fees and deposits for a new apartment?”
The tenant group is lobbying the Marietta City Council to stop—or at least slow—the redevelopment. “The demolition hasn’t started, and City Hall hasn’t listened to our voices,” Lantz said. “If they could hear us, maybe they’d realize this is not right.”
Economy Hotel
Earning $100 to $150 a night as a Waffle House server, Barbara Masters found the $325 a week that she paid to live at the Roswell’s Economy Hotel affordable. But on May 6, a fire marshal delivered a notice to vacate: The City had found the motel too dangerous to occupy.
The complex wasn’t just plagued by mold, structural issues, fire hazards, and pests; it had also hosted a sex-trafficking ring whose discovery led to six arrests.
“I was kind of dumbfounded,” Masters said. “You get what you pay for, but I couldn’t afford to go anywhere else.”
The City contracted the emergency housing nonprofit Drake House to help relocate all hotel residents. Masters now lives at Decatur’s 1st Place Hotel, which costs $400 weekly. She can’t imagine where she’d be if the city didn’t step in to help.
“Unless I hit the lottery or get a high-end restaurant job, I’ll be in hotels,” she said.
Chelsea Gardens
Low-income renters and housing advocates plan to stage a rally at College Park City Hall this evening, protesting a wave of evictions and utility shut-offs at the Chelsea Gardens apartment complex.
City officials condemned the development in late April, citing mold, rodents, and crumbling structures, and told residents they had to move out by June 1. But some residents claim their landlord had law enforcement forcefully remove people weeks before then, even cutting off their water to speed up the process.
The Party for Socialism and Liberation, which is assisting the Campus Edge tenant movement, is urging the city to grant Chelsea Gardens residents due process before formally evicting them.
“Both the landlord of Chelsea Gardens, Pete Dedvukaj, and the city of College Park are guilty of robbing tenants of their homes, cutting off water, endangering their health and safety,” PSL said in a press release. “The tenants have a right to live in their homes.”
It is unconscionable to treat hard-working but low-income fellow citizens like this! They are people too, and just as human as those more fortunate!
This nation, and probably the rest of the world, could use a strong dose of empathy! What if you were in their situation? And don’t assume for one split-second that, “they are poor because they’re lazy”. I personally know low-income folks who are working two, and even three jobs! And they are still low-income because of the greed of employers, in my opinion.
Meanwhile in Atlanta affordable housing is virtually non existent, yet Andre Dickens gets to claim responsibility for creating thousands of new units just because a few units are 80% ami (not even close to affordable housing). To pour salt in the wound, those unit are only temporarily at that rate before reverting back to market rate. This is a huge problem the will continue to snowball if more isnt done.
This country only cares about the money and how to make more money.