Vote Yes! House Bill 725: Creates standards of habitability for rental housing
Vote Yes! House Bill 689: Stable Family and Homelessness Prevention Act
Vote No! House Bill 295: Pressures local governments to enforce urban camping laws
If you weren’t able to make it to our first CoC meeting on February 25, you can view the full PowerPoint slides here >>
Download our federal and state advocacy guide for more information to make your voice heard.
Urge Congress to pass a short-term CR and a final FY25 spending bill with increased funding for HUD’s affordable housing and homelessness programs!
Advocates can use NLIHC’s resources to take action today and urge Congress to pass increased funding for affordable housing and homelessness in FY25, including for NLIHC’s top priorities:
Georgia Housing Voucher Program – HouseATL has been advocating for an increase to the Georgia Housing Voucher Program budget (see attached), which provides supportive housing for chronically homeless people with severe mental illness. The Governor’s proposed budget for FY 26 included no increase, despite the fact that funding is below pre-pandemic levels, while costs and need have dramatically increased. (see attached one pager)
Status and Next Steps: Please phone or email your Representative and Senator (by entering your home address here) and urge their support for a $20 Million increase in the FY 2026 budget (HB 68) to the Georgia Housing Voucher Program administered by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities.
HB 183, which HouseATL opposes, sounds like it may receive a committee vote today or tomorrow. It proposes a summary ejectment process to remove people living in extended stay hotels without due process. It would reverse the Georgia Supreme Court decision in 2023 that recognized the need to examine the length and nature of the person’s residency to determine whether they have the rights of a tenant and therefore can only be removed through the eviction process. Contact members of the House Judiciary Committee asking them to oppose this bill as unfair to a very vulnerable population of low-income households living in these hotels, often for months and even years at a time, as a last resort before homelessness.
HB 295 -This is a bill that we are opposing. It provides for property owners and those renting property to be able to demand a refund of property taxes if the city or county adopts a policy as a sanctuary city, or adopts a policy, pattern, or practice of failing to enforce criminal laws against homeless people for public camping, loitering, obstructing thoroughfares, panhandling, public intoxication or urination. The owner can seek annual compensation equal to the expenses they incurred in mitigating the effects of the city’s failure to enforce criminal laws or the reduction in the fair market value of the property that resulted, plus attorney’s fees and costs.
Status and Next Steps: Unfortunately, this bill passed the House Public Safety Committee and is now with the House Rules Committee. Contact members of the House Rules Committee to express your opposition to this bill and ask them not to include it on the House calendar for a floor vote, especially if you are a constituent of any of the members of the House Rules Committee or you have some experiences or data to share about this issue. You can find your legislator by entering your home address here.
HB374 – This bill’s original intent was to remove the state pre-emption of rental registry bans to allow local jurisdictions to establish housing management databases, which HouseATL supported.
Status and Next Steps: Unfortunately, HB 374 was amended in the House Governmental Affairs Committee to include only authority to require residential property registration for Build to Rent communities with ten or more contiguous properties. Multifamily rental properties and scattered single family properties would not be included. It passed the Committee and is now with the House Rules Committee. We will continue to monitor the legislation and seek opportunities to strengthen it to provide transparency and accountability for residential rental property.
Please contact Natallie Keiser at nkeiser@houseatl.org if you have any questions about these advocacy opportunities.
HB399 – Would require entities owning more than 25 single family or duplex homes in Georgia to have a Georgia licensed broker representing them and a point of contact for tenant communications who resides in Georgia.
Status and Next Steps: With our advocacy, the bill passed the House! It is now in the Senate, we will update you when it is assigned to a committee.
HB 555, The Georgians First Residential Property Protection Act, passed the House Judiciary Committee yesterday (hearing here). This bill caps the number of single-family rental homes that a single entity can own in the state to 2,000 (note the new version of the bill that passed excludes multifamily – website hasn’t been updated yet). The bill helps address the issue of private equity funds and Real Estate Investment Trusts targeting Georgia for single family home acquisitions to use as rental property. It now moves to the House Rules Committee. Contact members of the House Rules Committee to express your support this bill and ask them to include it on the House calendar for a vote prior to March 6, Crossover Day, especially if you are a constituent of any of the members of the House Rules Committee or you have some experiences or data to share about this issue. You can find your legislator by entering your home address here
HB 689, The Stable Family and Homelessness Prevention Act – HB 689 is bipartisan legislation led by Rep. Kasey Carpenter (R-Dalton). It will create a flexible local grant program within the Georgia Department of Community Affairs State Housing Trust Fund for the Homeless to provide short term emergency rental and utility assistance, legal representation in eviction, mediation, and other homelessness prevention supports for low-income Georgians. Without this legislation and appropriation, the DCA pilot program for emergency rental assistance will end in September when the balance of the federal Covid dollars for emergency rental assistance is exhausted. (See attached one pager.) We are also seeking $25 Million in the FY 26 Budget to fund the program.
Status and Next Steps: Please contact your Representative if that person serves on the House Rules Committee today by phone or email and urge them to please move HB 689 to the House floor for a vote by Thursday, March 6, Crossover Day. You can find your legislator by entering your home address here. To advocate for a $25 Million appropriation in the FY 26 Budget – HB 68 – to fund the program, please phone or email your Representative and Senator (by entering your home address here).
A bill to be entitled an Act to amend Code Section 44-7-13 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to landlord’s duties as to repairs and improvements, so as to provide for landlord duties regarding certain rental agreements; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
We need your assistance on two state policy issues that support increased funding for the Georgia Housing Voucher Program and opposing House Bill 295 which proposes to criminalize homelessness.
The House Public Safety Committee meeting heard from ACCG, GMA and Brad Schweers of Intown Cares in opposition to the bill and heard from Cicero Action, the organization seeking to criminalize homelessness across the country, supporting the bill.
Please email and call members of the committee to voice your concerns. Distribute email alerts. Communications from the committee members’ constituents (including their home addresses in the email) are most effective. You can also come to the capitol on Tuesday or Wednesday morning and talk to Committee members between 10:00 AM and 12:00 PM.
As federal, state, and local policies continue to evolve, it’s more important than ever to stay informed and prepared. To ensure all Atlanta CoC members have access to timely and relevant updates, Partners for HOME is launching a series of monthly virtual calls focused on key policy changes that affect our work. These sessions will provide insights into legislative developments, funding shifts, and administrative actions that directly impact housing and homelessness services in our region.
If you weren’t able to make it to our first meeting on February 25, you can view the full PowerPoint slides here >>
Click here for the monthly agenda, the full yearly schedule and to register:
This #GivingTuesday, Partners for HOME invites you to join us in making a meaningful impact in the lives of our neighbors experiencing homelessness.
Since 2016, we’ve partnered with the City of Atlanta and the Atlanta Continuum of Care (CoC) to achieve a 30% reduction in homelessness. This milestone is a testament to the power of collaboration and compassion.
