Sandy Springs officials are formally opposing a bill in the Georgia Legislature they say would limit the city’s control of rental properties.
Mayor Rusty Paul says the wave of hedge funds and corporations buying up residential property across the U.S. for long-term rent leasing would be more detrimental to Sandy Springs if House Bill 1093 is passed.
City Council approved a resolution opposing the bill and its “limitations on a municipality’s authority to make housing, land use and zoning decisions….” during its a regular meeting Feb. 15.
Wednesday, Paul joined College Park Mayor Bianca Motley Broom and Charlotte Davis, deputy director of Governmental Relations at the Georgia Municipal Association, to testify before a House judiciary committee.
“Don’t take away our ability to manage the kind of housing that is crucial to local residents,” Paul said.
The officials argued that House Bill 1093 would take away cities’ ability to regulate residential developments that are built to lease, pre-empting officials on zoning, permits, certificate of occupancy, conditional use and re-zoning.
Paul said there is already a limited amount of housing available for sale in Sandy Springs and the bill would further squeeze out prospective middle class and lower income buyers.
“Are we the state that puts value on our families or are we going to tip the scale to major corporate buyers who come and scarf up all this property and all this housing at the expense of our families,” Paul said.
Motley Broom added that 75% of residents in College Park are renters and the city is working with local banks to provide more home buying opportunities.
“The opportunity for intergenerational wealth does not exist in this type of model where a corporate citizen comes in and buys a huge swath of land,” Motley Broom said.
A February article by Sandy Springs-based Rangewater Real Estate says that at the end of September 2021 investors represented at least 43% of all home sales for the year in Metro Atlanta.
Last week, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that sellers usually prefer cash offers to waiting for mortgage approval, adding that a Forsyth County property that fielded 155 offers sold for more than $200,000 over its list price.
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