This browser does not support the Video element.
Athens residents worried new housing developments will force them out
Some residents of Athens are worried about a new housing project. They fear out-of-state developers are swooping in and scooping up their properties, leaving them with no where to go. FOX 5 spoke to some of them.
ATHENS, Ga. - Longtime Metro Atlanta residents say they're being pushed out of their homes and kicked to the curb. They blame out-of-state real estate developers swooping in, looking to cash in on the development boom.
"I'm still out here trying to find out what we can do," said Barbara Daniel, a lifelong resident of Athens, Ga.
Barbara says elderly and disabled residents in Athens are being pushed out of their homes as the University of Georgia expands its student population, and she claims to be one of them.
"They buy a property. That’s all they do. They divide up property, and they come in and rent them out to people that can afford it," she said.
While the Athens’ real estate market has ballooned, few legal protections exist for people like Barbara – who was forced out of her home after living there for two decades.
The 60-year-old woman says she has been staying with a friend, saving her from a much harsher alternative.
"There’s a lot of elderly people that’s on the street," she said. "There’s a lot of young people, families on the street, because they have nowhere to go."
Last week, Preisdent Joe Biden's secretary of housing and urban development heard from people in Gwinnett County about the housing crisis. Marcia Fudge pledged more resources like tax credits and grants for the construction of affordable housing.
Earlier this year, Georgia lawmakers introduced a bill aimed at large institutional investors who, just like barbara describes, snatch up single-family homes, jack up the price, and then rent them out.
That bill, called H.B. 490, died at the end of the legislative session before it could be brought to a vote.
Barbara says time is of the essence.
"It’s not only about me, it’s about a lot of people," she said. "It’s about elderly people, it’s about that people, it’s about the homeless people, it’s about all of us out here."