As Tropical Storm Helene careened through Georgia, it left a trail of wreckage in its wake — destruction that’s especially hard on lower-income renters.
To avoid being left without a paddle after the catastrophic climate event, it’s crucial to understand your rights as a tenant — namely, what your landlord is obligated to do to remediate damages in emergencies like this — and where else to seek assistance.
The Georgia Legal Aid website has information on what to do about storm damage once you are out of immediate danger, whether it’s dealing with your landlord or applying for federal disaster relief aid.
Atlanta Civic Circle compiled Georgia Legal Aid’s guidance on how to navigate disaster relief applications and what to do if you face roadblocks in the process.
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Are the feds cracking down on ‘deceptive’ mega-landlords?
America’s largest single-family landlord, Invitation Homes, has agreed to pay $48 million to reimburse tenants for unlawful charges in a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
The federal government’s lawsuit claims Invitation Homes defrauded home-renters “by charging mandatory undisclosed junk fees, misrepresenting when it withholds security deposits and unfairly withholding security deposit refunds owed to former residents, misrepresenting its home inspection and maintenance practices, and steering residents away from eviction protections during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Texas-based Invitation Homes owns 80,000 single-family rental homes, including nearly 8,000 homes across metro Atlanta. The FTC’s legal action against the rental home giant has spurred questions of whether the feds are mounting a major crackdown on predatory landlords — or whether this is a one-off.
Taylor Shelton, a Georgia State University geographer who’s extensively studied corporate landlords, told Atlanta Civic Circle he hopes this is a sign that the feds are finally scrutinizing the institutional investors who’ve bought up rental homes nationally since the 2008 financial crisis.
“This action against Invitation Homes is a really significant shot across the bow for corporate landlords across the country,” he said. “Most of the unfair and deceptive practices the FTC cites are things we know to be not only commonplace across the industry, but actually part of these companies’ fundamental business model and standard operating procedures.”
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Transit limitations complicate Cobb, Gwinnett housing goals
Housing experts and advocates have long said that houses and apartments are not truly affordable if they don’t afford residents easy access to jobs, schools, grocery stores, healthcare, and other necessities. After all, what good is low-cost living if you have to spend big just to get where you need to go?
In Cobb and Gwinnett counties, the vast majority of residents rely on cars to get just about everywhere, and they usually drive alone. But the pressures of rapid population growth have highlighted the growing challenges posed by the counties’ dearth of mass transit.
As these northern metro Atlanta communities become increasingly expensive, Cobb and Gwinnett are struggling to guide development to accommodate the influx of people — and they’re up against a vocal contingent of longtime homeowners who want to protect their more suburban, automobile-reliant lifestyle.
Atlanta Civic Circle spoke with county leaders and housing and transit experts about ways to expand transit options, including upcoming voter referendums in both Cobb and Gwinnett to fund more mass transit with a penny-option sales tax — and why commuter train lines are unlikely to arrive in these northern Atlanta suburbs any time soon.
ICYMI, last month, we broke down other big-city housing problems Cobb and Gwinnett officials face as their populations boom.
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Housing Justice League grades City Council candidates’ housing savvy
The local nonprofit Housing Justice League on Monday published Atlanta City Council candidates’ responses to 20 housing-related questions, along with their scores. The five Post 3 At-Large hopefuls’ answers reveal stark differences in how they envision the future of city living.
Devin Barrington-Ward, who heads the Black Futurists Group, was the only candidate to score 100% for his responses. Another housing advocacy group, Abundant Housing Atlanta, endorsed him last month for his urbanist-minded platform. The Housing Justice League, however, hasn’t made an official endorsement.
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Atlanta Planning Department seeks public input for Plan A
The city of Atlanta is updating its Comprehensive Development Plan, the sprawling policy document that will determine how the city can be built out for years to come — and city planners want your help.
Called “Plan A,” the state-mandated Comprehensive Development Plan translates the overarching Atlanta City Design Plan crafted in 2017 into actionable policy goals to guide the city’s massive zoning code overhaul that’s currently underway. Atlanta adopted Plan A in October 2021 and is now working on the five-year update.
On Oct. 10, the city’s planning department will kick off its third round of public meetings to solicit input for the Plan A update. The open house is from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Bank of America Building, located at 600 W. Peachtree Street. Click here to RSVP.
The series of nine public meetings about Plan A will run through February.