Rents are skyrocketing. In 2021, rent increases in Georgia were the 6th highest in the country and the average cost of a one-bedroom apartment increased by more than 20%. While wages overall stagnate and even decline, rents continue to rise. Even small increases in rent are leaving many residents vulnerable. Affordable, secure, safe housing is out of reach for many.

Like the rest of the country, Georgia too faces a severe housing crisis. Rising rents are a significant force behind the crises of mass evictions and homelessness that working-class people face. High rents are accelerating racist gentrification of historic Black neighborhoods in Georgia’s cities, pushing out longtime residents. They also impact homeowners by driving up property taxes, making it unsustainable to own their homes. Cities like Atlanta have been turned into playgrounds for the rich.

Housing—a commodity under the capitalist system—is treated as speculative investment and gambled with by the big banks, the Wall Street profiteers, and the real estate tycoons. In the 2008 housing market crash, over 6 million people lost their homes. The banks got bailed out with $800 billion of public funds, while people who lost their homes were not given a penny. None of the billionaires responsible for causing the housing crisis faced any consequences—in fact they were rewarded with bonuses.

Vacant and unaffordable housing units line the streets of cities across the country, while working-class families unable to pay outrageous rents are thrown into the streets. Homelessness is a violation of human rights—when there is more empty housing than people in need of housing. Housing should be a human right, but instead it's treated as a means for the rich to get even richer.

Presently, rents are raised at the discretion of landlords. There is no cap on how much tenants can be charged in rent. No limitation on how often rent can be increased or by how much. Rents need to be brought under control using laws that restrict and set limits to rents, namely rent control laws. We need rent control now!

Georgia is one of 37 states that bans rent control—making it illegal for local communities to enact any regulations on rent. These state-wide bans were enacted in the interests of the big landlords, and corporate developers, upholding the rights of the wealthy to exploit tenants and reap profits. Meanwhile tenants have little to no protections.

The first step in the fight for rent control will be to repeal the state ban. Georgia state’s ban can be overturned. But it will take a real fightback—an organized, independent, grassroots movement willing to make demands and struggle in the streets for housing justice.

Under pressure, in early 2020, the Atlanta City Council set a precedent by passing a resolution urging the Georgia General Assembly to repeal the statewide ban on rent control. This symbolic gesture however is not enough. A people’s movement must press on and force the hand of the politicians of both parties to repeal the ban.

The People's Resolution demands that the Georgia General Assembly immediately repeals the state-wide ban on rent control!

If your organization would like to sign on to the People's Resolution as an endorser, please contact the Party for Socialism and Liberation Atlanta.

470-509-4746 | atlanta@pslweb.org
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