Georgians are being priced and bought out of our cities. Over the past several months, Housing Justice League has noticed worsening trends that are impacting who is able to live and own land in and around Atlanta. Corporations are buying out our neighborhoods. It is becoming less and less common to find a house owned by a person. In 2021, investors bought well over one third of the houses that were for sale in the predominantly Black neighborhoods south and southwest of downtown Atlanta. In some zip codes, the rate of purchase by investors was over 50 percent. Since January 2020, rents in metro Atlanta have increased by 28.2% on average. Meanwhile, the wages of working class people have not significantly increased in decades. Housing is a necessity. However, our governments at all levels allow the housing market to be treated as a game of poker that rakes in wealth for the ultra-rich. A safe and sanitary place to live should be treated as a human right, guaranteed for all. Not a commodity to be bought, sold and priced based on the desires of wealthy institutions.

Royal Oaks is located in the Greenbriar neighborhood of Southwest Atlanta and is owned by Prosperity Capital Partners Real Estate (PCPRE) which is based in Florida. The company has about $250 million in assets and owns 18 apartment complexes across parts of Georgia and Florida. Royal Oaks tenants face major safety hazards and health consequences due to PCPRE’s failure to maintain their properties. Royal Oaks tenants face extremely hazardous conditions as several of the buildings are visibly collapsing or have been hit with severe flooding where water has risen above the front doors on the ground level. One of the buildings has sat inoperable and vacant since 2004. Tenants are now facing rent increases of around $400 before any improvements are made. Tenants are facing numerous issues including holes in walls and ceilings, black mold, infestations, no outdoor lighting, and black water and other plumbing issues. There is also a lack of fire extinguishers and broken smoke detectors. Residents have reported multiple fires including electrical fires and an absence of hydrants for the Fire Department to properly put out fires. Tenants deal with an unresponsive management team that does nothing besides take their rent. Despite spending no money on improvements, PCPRE has recently decided to raise rents by hundreds of dollars.

Prado, Teari, CJ, and Duerell are all residents of a Bankhead rooming house. They are parents, workers, and students just trying to live their lives. But their landlord, Vladimy Moise, has forced them to live in horrific conditions for months by neglecting basic maintenance and allowing the property to fall apart. Now, he is attempting to illegally evict all of them so that he can sell the property. With housing prices rising on the west side, slumlords like Vladimy are exploiting black, working-class tenants who have nowhere else to go. The conditions that these tenants have endured in the home are unimaginable. In the basement, there is a huge puddle of raw sewage from the septic tank, creating a horrific odor throughout the house. One tenant, CJ, cannot even flush their toilet. When the heater is on, the air in the house becomes nearly unbreathable, and tenants suspect a gas leak. As a result of the air quality, they have been sleeping without heat and with open windows. Vladimy's horrific neglect of basic maintenance has caused several of the tenants to experience health problems, including difficulty breathing. Vladimy has already taken several illegal actions in attempt to evict these tenants. He threw tenants' belongings to the street, changed the locks, cut off the electricity, and destroyed appliances. Many of their belongings were stolen or broken once they were thrown to the curb. One tenant, Teari, lost hundreds of dollars of clothes including a brand new pair of $200 shoes. Several of the tenants had even paid for the whole month's rent, only for Vladimy to kick them out before the month was over. Duerell was getting a degree online when Vladimy illegally evicted him. Afterwards, Duerell was forced to sleep in his car rather than in the room that he paid for; without wifi, he had to withdraw from school for the semester. Although the tenants have now returned to the home, they cannot cook or refrigerate food due to the intentional sabotage of the stove and refrigerator. Prado, Teari, CJ and Duerell are just ordinary people trying to live their lives. But slumlords like Vladimy don't see tenants as people; they see them as sources of profit to be exploited, abused, and disposed of. These tenants are fighting back against slumlords' greedy and evil ways; when tenants stand up for their rights to live with dignity and without exploitation, we must stand with them!

In May 2021, an affiliate of private investment firm Starwood Capital Group bought the house that Ms. Jessica Pettigrew lives in with her six children. Since then, it has been trying to put her out. The company filed for eviction against her, but has not yet been granted possession of the property. Despite this, the company has tried to change her locks three times without notifying her. Changing the locks of a home in order to evict a tenant without the approval of a judge is illegal. Ms. Pettigrew is ready to move elsewhere: her downstairs floods every time it rains, and there are mushrooms and mold growing. However, she does not have the resources to leave, and the company only offered her $1,000 to relocate. The actions of Ms. Pettigrew's new landlord are shameful. They must cease their efforts to illegally evict her, and provide her with the funds that she needs to find a new home.

The only reason we've been able to stay in our homes for the past 8 years is because of the support of the community and of our neighbors! Please sign our petition and ask ATL Mayor Bottoms to do the right thing and call off the evictions she is directing.

CAMPAIGN UPDATE After agreeing to sell Ms. Juliet her home, Dustin Maxwell is now going back on his word and seeking a writ of possession. Ms. Juliet has secured financing and a loan. All Dustin has to do is sign the deal. Instead, he is taking her case to superior court to get a writ of possession to evict Ms. Juliet. His behavior is despicable. More background: In late November 2021, HJL was able to negotiate a deal with Dustin to sell the home to Ms. Juliet. We agreed to a price and that the financing would need to be in place by Feb 1st. We asked to have until March but he wouldn't budge. Getting financing together was a lot of work, the Holidays and Omicron variant of Covid19 made everything slower. We didn't have the money we really needed until the first few days of February. We had our purchasing agreement ready and sent over for Dustin to sign on February 18th. He never signed or responded, and neither did his lawyer. We feared the worst but hoped for the best. On April 11 Dustin came to the zoom court meeting agitated and said he was tired of dealing with Ms. Juliet and that he wanted a writ of possession because we didn't have everything by Feb 1st. Our lawyer did great, Judge Williams also was on our side, encouraging Dustin to take the money and explained that financing takes time. Dustin didn't budge. Juliet Brown’s eviction case is officially moving to the GA Superior Court after the DeKalb County Magistrate Court judge refused to grant a writ of possession to the landlord. The landlord has been unresponsive for the past month, even after he was presented with a finalized Purchase Agreement with the agreed-upon terms. The Superior Court extension will delay the process for a few more months. Original petition: Ms. Juliet, a Black elder of Decatur, is being forced out of her home so her landlord can sell it for a profit. Ms. Juliet is a beloved community member and has worked at a local public school serving food for 15 years. In the 27 years of living in her home, Ms. Juliet has paid what the house is worth with her rent at least 2 times over. Now her neighborhood is gentrifying, and her landlord refuses to renew the lease so he can make a profit. She is a single, low-income widow with chronic health issues, and she does not have the funds to move. Ms. Juliet does not have anywhere else to go. Her landlord, Dustin, promised her when he bought the home 3 years ago that he wanted her to stay. Now, he’s going back on his word and trying to kick her out onto the street just to make a profit. Dustin has failed to do basic maintenance at Ms Juliet’s home, leaving her without heat for 3 months in the winter. Dustin is a big time investor with over 400 rental units. He has no right to profit from kicking Ms Juliet out of her house. We must hold him and his corporation, Jetsetter Capital, accountable to their violence.

It is our fundamental and human right to have our rights protected. Because of this injustice, people are mentally and physically depressed. Some without a will to live. People are in bondage and afraid for there safety. This justice is important for the development of our community and ultimately for our whole society to live in peace and harmony as one.

Fulton County's Development Authority (DAFC) is clearly off track. The AJC's expose has shown that it is a rogue agency, rife with self-dealing. Worse, it has been doling out hundreds of millions of breaks on Atlanta's tax dollars for projects in hot markets that would still be built without abatements. Both Atlanta City Council and the Atlanta School Board have unanimously asked DAFC to stop granting tax breaks in the city, but DAFC refuses to listen. We need to seize this opportunity to reform DAFC. The public cannot wait any longer for a new DAFC board majority. See this article for more information on DAFC's corruption: https://www.ajc.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-fulton-development-boards-twisted-tactics-turn-my-stomach/WJKTDBVGIRHMNPZWQWK3CBFKOA/

Residents have had enough. Valaire Wimby has lived in Forest Cove for over 40 years. “There are a lot of rats, we get roaches, we get mold, mildew. My neighbor next door, the wood is all rotten. Piles of trash lay out in the walkway. The buildings are condemned,” she says. “I’ve seen it all, and by the grace of God I’m still here.” Marchella Heard, another Forest Cove Resident, says "Living in Forest Cove has been horrific. My kids can’t play outside. The floor is caving in, the walls are coming down, my apartment is falling down around me.” We are submitting this petition to supplement and support the petition that was signed by over 100 Forest Cove residents and delivered to Millennia, HUD, and several elected officials on February 19, 2021. Since then, Millennia has finally closed on the property and has initiated relocation meetings with residents, however residents are still dealing with inadequate maintenance and it is still not clear when they will be moved from the property. The original petition text is below: TO: Millennia Housing Management, Ltd. (MHM) Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Mayor Keisha Lance-Bottoms Chief Housing Officer Terri Lee Fulton County Commissioner Marvin S. Arrington, Jr. GA State Representative David Dreyer GA State Senator Nan Orrock U.S. Representative Nikema Williams U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff We, the undersigned residents of Forest Cove Apartments, have been waiting for our living conditions to improve for years. When MHM took over the property and expressed its plan to renovate it, we were hopeful that we would finally see some positive changes. However, it has been years, and still nothing has changed. We have been told that before the renovation can begin, MHM must first purchase Forest Cove from its current owner, Global Ministries Foundation (GMF). However, whenever MHM gives us a timeline, the dates shift. We understand that the closing process may be long and complicated, but we are unable to wait any longer for our situation to improve. As this process drags on, residents continue to languish in inhumane conditions. It is shameful that so many of us have injuries and health problems from our units. Years after MHM took over the management of Forest Cove from GMF, we are still dealing with broken appliances, rats, mold, leaks, and structurally unsound units. No human deserves to live like this. The top priority of MHM and HUD should be to ensure that all residents are able to live comfortably and safely. We do not believe that MHM or HUD are approaching this situation with the urgency that it requires. We are demanding: 1. That HUD expedite the pass-through leasing process. We want the process to begin in no more than 60 days. 2. That all residents who would like to return after the renovation receive the right to return at full affordability. 3. That between now and the start of the renovation, residents receive the groundskeeping and maintenance services that we need to remain comfortable while we wait to be relocated. 4. That a security company be hired to keep residents safe between now and the completion of the relocation. We are asking our city, county, and state officials for your support. Hopefully this process will be able to speed up with your awareness and urging. Sincerely, The Tenants of Forest Cove Apartments

On September 8, Efficiency Lodge unlawfully evicted more than a dozen families by locking them out of their rooms during the day while they were away at work; those who were still in their rooms, many of them with children, were forced out at gunpoint by heavily armed guards, who had been hired by hotel management to carry out the evictions. After being locked out of their rooms, a number of residents were not permitted to retrieve their possessions until the following day. The week of September 28 Efficiency Lodge gave out notices threatening to do the same thing again to many more residents and families. Under Georgia landlord-tenant law, a resident and owner establish a landlord-tenant relationship if the resident (or “tenant-at-will”) considers the owner’s property their primary residence and has lived there for at least 90 days. Many of the residents facing eviction have lived at Efficiency Lodge for far more than 90 days, some even up to three years. This makes the self-help eviction practices at Efficiency Lodge unlawful. The Georgia Department of Law’s Consumer Protection Division recognized this as recently as April 2020. For most residents, Efficiency Lodge is their last option in an exploitative and discriminatory housing market, shaped by decades of racist housing policy, disinvestment, and predatory lending in Black communities. These are some of the most vulnerable renters in Georgia—families and individuals who have, in many cases, already been deprived of other housing options and whose next stop, if forced to leave the hotel, is their car, a homeless shelter, or the street. This reality makes them particularly at risk for exploitation and abuse. At Efficiency Lodge, residents have been forced to live with dangerous living conditions and have faced retaliation (including lock-outs) when complaints have been made to the corporate office. Meanwhile the owners of Efficiency Lodge make huge profits from this dangerous situation. Efficiency Lodge, Inc. is a national corporation with annual revenues of over $7.5 million. In April 2020 they received a $150,000-350,000 low interest loan from the federal government through the Covid-19 Paycheck Protection Program. The owners are the Barnes brothers, former Governor Roy Barnes, and his brother Ray Barnes. In 1998, Ray Barnes was quoted in the Atlanta Business Chronicle stating, “you'll always have undesirables. The question is how quick you can get rid of them.”

“I have anxiety attacks every time I see a slip of paper on my door.” Miracle Fletcher is a mother of two living at Trestletree Village Apartments. With a career in education that hit some major obstacles after she was diagnosed with a rare oral cancer in 2017, Miracle, her family, and many other Resident families in the low-income apartments have been “kicked while they are down” by the shady business practices and abuses of power taking place by Management. While living in a downstairs apartment unit in 2019, Miracle detailed horrific plumbing issues, ranging from instances of fecal matter and sewage water coming up through the bathtub drain while her children bathed, to their entire apartment being flooded and every piece of furniture having to be thrown out. Miracle, already immunocompromised in the middle of the Coronavirus pandemic, contracted a bacterial infection from exposure to the contaminated water. “We are treated in an inhumane manner, no regard for the health and safety of myself or my children,” says Miracle. “There’s no protection for us residents. It feels like it’s us against them.” Other residents have experienced similar uninhabitable living conditions and have been ignored by Management when they made maintenance and repair requests. On several occasions, Velissa Sims has called about the mold situation and received no response. “I have medical records showing how my and my children's allergies and respiratory health has been affected due to mold and roach infestations,” says Velissa. “We are all on long-term medication and have frequent doctor visits. We may even have to start getting monthly shots for my two children with asthma due to living conditions.” Several Residents like Miracle and Velissa have been speaking out in an attempt to fight back against Management’s harassment and unprofessional practices since 2017. Specific Residents have been targeted with eviction threats, harassing notices, improper and unnecessary home inspections, and inadequate property upkeep (maintenance inside and outside Trestletree units). Now, months into a COVID-19 pandemic that has elevated stress levels universally, single, working mothers are having to balance health crises, essential jobs, and the taxing virtual homeschooling of multiple children at different grade levels with fighting back against property management harassment and threats of eviction from their homes. Retaliation is a prominent tactic used by Management; while response to complaints can go weeks, even months without answer, minor “lease violations” are served randomly and more frequently to residents who fight back against the unfair treatment. “Everyone is on edge all the time. Even if you pay rent and utilities, you can look forward to some type of harassment,” says fellow Resident Tempestt Sims. “With me being a single parent, it makes it feel like [Management is] trying to intimidate you to either stay silent or leave. It’s scary to know at any moment my home can be taken from me.” Sims and others have been threatened to be evicted from their homes as a retaliation and intimidation tactic by Management. If Residents complain about unfounded or incorrect violations, maintenance issues, or provide any type of criticism toward Trestletree Management, the level of harassment intensifies. Trestletree Village Apartments Residents are given violations for nearly any miniscule infringement Trestletree Management can come up with; these bogus lease violations are stacked up over time and used as a record of “issues” to defend Management’s eventual failure to renew resident leases when the time comes. This targeted, mean-spirited stereotyping and mistreatment of Trestletree Residents must be stopped! Residents want property managers who want to work with them, not against them, to build a community of peace, respect, and accountability. Trestletree Village Apartments’ current Management cannot fulfill these needs, and therefore need to be removed and replaced.

Housing in our country is broken, and when you begin to interrogate our financial system it is not hard to understand why. Housing is increasingly commodified and controlled, not by communities and individuals, but by corporations and investors thousands of miles away. More and more, Georgia’s homes and apartment complexes are being bought up, bundled into securitized investments, and traded on Wall Street by private equity groups such as Blackstone, Sylvan Group, and the Brookdale Group. Once these investors own entire streets and neighborhoods, they control the local markets. Because our state has a ban on rent control, these investors are able to gouge rents to unbelievably unaffordable levels. In the entire state, there is not a single zip code where minimum wage covers the cost of housing. It is time to bring power back to cities, communities and individuals, to re-establish the freedom in Georgia to opt-in to rent control, and begin protecting our state’s renters from long-standing exploitation. Georgia legislators, you have a choice to make: Continue letting private equity firms package and bet on our housing and gouge our rents, or repeal the ban and start fighting to restore tenants’ power. We believe not only in citizens’ rights to safe housing and stable rents, but also in cities’ and counties' right to choose their own approach to our housing crisis. State law should not be an authoritative force that dictates the destinies of local renters. Repealing the ban restores and protects the freedoms of our millions of renters, and re-establishes municipal authority. We demand the long-overdue repeal of Georgia’s rent control ban.