Trump’s funding freeze threatens renters
Although it’s still entangled in a federal court battle, the specter of the Trump administration’s federal funding freeze threatens to upend housing stability for thousands of Atlantans.
“More than 18,000 residents who rely on [federal] housing vouchers currently do not know how their rent will be paid next month, and workers across various federally funded programs risk losing their pay,” Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said in a statement on Jan. 28, the day the funding freeze was initially set to take effect.
Most of the local government agencies and nonprofits that provide housing and supportive services for lower-income and unhoused Atlantans rely heavily on federal money to operate — so when President Donald Trump issued a hastily written executive order to pause the flow of trillions of dollars of federal grants and loans late last month, alarm spread among city leaders.
Dwayne Vaughan, the chief operating officer for Atlanta Housing (AH), which administers the city’s 18,000 federal housing vouchers, called the executive order “concerning” during a Jan. 28 Atlanta City Council committee meeting.
Courtney English, the mayor’s top policy advisor, put it more bluntly: “Gravely distressing is how I would describe it,” he said at the council meeting.
What’s more, a federal judge in Rhode Island said on Monday that the Trump administration has been ignoring his order temporarily blocking the funding freeze and ordered the government to “immediately restore frozen funding,” according to news reports.
State lawmakers consider legal definition of housing “habitability”
When Georgia lawmakers passed the Safe at Home Act last year, it marked a major step forward for tenant rights by requiring rental housing to be “fit for human habitation.”
But housing advocates seized on a glaring gap that they saw in the legislation: It didn’t define habitability.
State Rep. Terry Cummings (D-Mableton) wants to change that. She’s working on a bill to amend House Bill 404 so that it specifies what makes a residence livable.
While the proposed legislation’s language hasn’t been finalized, Cummings told Atlanta Civic Circle it will require landlords to “maintain building structure, heating, and plumbing in working order,” and to “keep structures free from mold, mildew, and pests.”
But some legal experts warn it may be too early to see how local judges apply the Safe at Home Act in landlord-tenant disputes and urged lawmakers to exercise caution when drafting amendments to HB 404.
HEARD ON HOUSING
Could Georgia crack down on corporate landlords?
Georgia State Rep. Phil Olaleye (D-Atlanta) has introduced legislation to limit institutional investors’ influence in housing markets statewide.
House Bill 305, the “Protect the Dream Act,” seeks to “prohibit certain entities from acquiring an interest in a single-family dwelling.” In other words, it would prevent large businesses — those with at least $6.25 million in real estate holdings — from buying additional houses in Georgia if they already own 25 or more in any single county.
Georgia’s landlord-friendly legislature has historically resisted proposals to regulate housing markets, and, so far, similar federal legislation to rein in corporate landlords has failed to pass.
Atlanta Civic Circle will have an in-depth analysis of HB 305 and its chances at passing later this week.
U.S. Senate confirms former NFL player as HUD boss
Scott Turner, a former professional football player who led the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump’s first term, has been confirmed as secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Turner became the only Black member of Trump’s cabinet when he was confirmed and sworn in on Feb. 5.
During his first days in office, Turner directed the federal agency to “ensure housing programs, shelters, and other HUD-funded providers offer services to Americans based on their sex at birth: male or female.”
“We, at this agency, are carrying out the mission laid out by President Trump on Jan. 20, when he signed an executive order to restore biological truth to the federal government,” Turner added. “This means recognizing there are only two sexes: male and female. It means getting government out of the way of what the Lord established from the beginning when he created man in His own image.”
“The path ahead of us presents an opportunity to restore HUD to its core mission of supporting strong and sustainable communities and quality, affordable homes — serving our nation’s most vulnerable,” Turner said in a Feb. 7 HUD press release. “We must reduce burdensome regulations to make homeownership easier, while unleashing prosperity that has been stifled in communities across the country for far too long.”
Today’s newsletter was written by Sean Keenan and edited by Meredith Hobbs.
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