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This story is part of The Extended Stay Trap, a series that unpacks the overlapping challenges keeping families in Clayton County—and across Georgia—stuck in extended-stay motels when they want safe, stable homes.
Atlanta’s skyrocketing rents since the COVID-19 pandemic have pushed many low-income families out of apartments and into extended-stay hotels. This is a national phenomenon, but locally, housing experts say the Georgia legislature could enact two basic policy reforms to keep more Georgians housed: limit additional “junk fees” that landlords can charge on top of rent, and update state law to give tenants more recourse against negligent landlords.
Four Clayton County moms told Atlanta Civic Circle that the scarcity of decent apartments at rents they could afford didn’t give them much choice but to crowd their children into an expensive extended-stay hotel room. At over $400 a week, these hotels can end up costing more than rent, but many families are priced out of apartments because of high security deposits and hidden fees – or they can get evicted if they push a landlord to make basic repairs.
Consequently, extended-stay hotels serve as a stop-gap measure from homelessness. “It’s very hard as a single parent, with no one there to support you,” said one Clayton mom, Tanisha Moreno, who is raising six children.
“It’s not just that the rent is too expensive, it’s also that getting into the apartment is extremely expensive.”
Michael Waller, executive director, Georgia Appleseed Center for Law and Justice
Nickel and dimed
Even people who can afford the rent may not be able to pay a high lump sum in advance for the rent plus security deposit – or qualify for income requirements of 2.5 to three times the rent.
“It’s not just that the rent is too expensive, it’s also that getting into the apartment is extremely expensive,” said Michael Waller, executive director of the Georgia Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, a legal and policy nonprofit advocating for low-income families.
In 2024, the Georgia legislature passed the Safe at Home Act, which bans landlords from charging more than twice the rent as a security deposit. That’s a step in the right direction, Waller said, but not enough to make apartments affordable.
Limiting the monthly “junk fees” that landlords can charge on top of rent would help, said Lindsey Siegel, who spent years representing low-income tenants as an Atlanta Legal Aid lawyer. It used to be that costs like parking and garbage collection were included in the rent. But especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, Siegel said, landlords have started adding these costs as monthly fees to the rent, particularly at large corporate-owned complexes.
That can amount to several hundred dollars more than tenants expected to pay, Siegel said. “What started out as rent being, let’s say, $1,200 a month for a two-bedroom apartment could turn into $1,500 or $1,800, when you add in all the junk fees.”
The higher rent makes low-income renters more vulnerable to eviction – and a trip back to an extended-stay hotel. “So that’s another thing the legislature could do – put a cap and some restrictions on the junk fees that landlords can charge,” Siegel said.
“Even if the apartment is in really terrible shape…the law basically says you’ve got to keep paying your rent. If you don’t, you can be evicted.”
Michael Waller, executive director, Georgia Appleseed Center for Law and Justice
Improve habitability standards
Georgia is a landlord-friendly state, which means landlords receive more legal protections than tenants, say local housing law experts like Waller and Siegel. That creates a power imbalance, Waller said. For instance, before the Safe at Home Act took effect on July 1, 2024, Georgia was one of only three states that did not have a law requiring minimum habitability standards for landlords.
Georgia’s new tenant-protection law requires landlords to maintain apartments so that they’re “fit for human habitation.” However, it does not spell out detailed habitability standards, so it lacks specific, enforceable guidance for what habitability looks like, Waller said. Consequently, it’s difficult for a tenant to force their landlord to comply, even when it comes to remediating health hazards like leaks, black mold, and rats.
In some states, tenants can withhold rent until the landlord repairs major problems, such as lack of heat, plumbing, or dangerous structural issues. However, that’s illegal in Georgia. “Even if the apartment is in really terrible shape, or something happens and it’s not fixed properly, the law basically says you’ve got to keep paying your rent. If you don’t, you can be evicted,” Waller said.
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The Extended Stay Trap
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Tenants in Georgia do have some legal rights, but it’s up to them to advocate for themselves. If a landlord refuses to make repairs, for example, tenants can handle it themselves and deduct the cost from rent, or they can sue their landlord.
Many tenants, however, don’t know their rights around habitability standards and can’t afford a lawyer to sue. “Even in our lower courts, it’s difficult to navigate. It’s very time-consuming. It can be very expensive,” Waller said.
Low-income families can qualify for free legal representation from groups like Atlanta Legal Aid and Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, but they are limited in how many people they can help.
Adding legislation to the Safe at Home Act that defines “fit for human habitation” would make it easier for tenants to take legal action, Siegel said. “If Georgia laws … more clearly set the minimum standards that a landlord has to follow to provide habitable housing, that would be really helpful,” she said. “Otherwise it’s just up to individual judges to determine whether a tenant has a claim against their landlord for failing to repair.”
It seems clear that habitability standards should be clear and enforceability rules should make sense.
But rent and fees should never be prescribed by government. A landlord should always have the right to charge what he wants and suffer the occupancy rates.
Renters and non profits should team up and buy properties and control their own destiny.
Well said John Allen. The advocates, renters and Non-profits should come together and form Cooperatives or co-op’s. The issue is, they know how hard it is to operate housing, and deal with people who are perpetually in crisis. Mostly thru there own choices. The city of Atlanta Land banks owns hundreds of acres of land, they can develop themselves but once again they are always looking for partners. The govt and “Advocates” don’t want the responsibility of Development or Management. They tried that before they were called public housing and failed. People not paying rent during covid shot up rent prices. The govt still collected property taxes, insurance had to be paid. all while not collecting rent or evicting to make room for people who can pay. so they cost had to be passed on to service the bridge loans. Higher Rent!! About a year ago there was meeting with renters and advocates in east atl and the only thing they could talk about was they needed more benefits and services. Iv been to a lot of these events nobody wants to talk about self help solution’s.