RHONE: In Atlanta, affordable housing is key to the American dream

Nolan described our 2022 interview about her struggle to find affordable housing in metro Atlanta. We chatted a bit before I asked the reason for her call.

“I was just feeling grateful,” she said.

It isn’t often that someone I have interviewed calls me back with good news. But as Nolan shared her journey of the last two years, I felt something I haven’t felt often in recent months: hope.

In this column, I have shared many stories about how the lack of affordable housing can negatively impact a person’s life. I’ve challenged politicians, community leaders and readers to support faster and better solutions to a problem that only seems to be getting worse.

When I first spoke with Nolan in January 2022, it was a decade after she had overcome a bout of homelessness as a young mother. She thought she had finally reached a level of stability — until her landlord gave notice in December that he was not renewing the lease on her three bedroom, one bathroom home in Thomasville Heights.

Nolan had been promoted to a salaried position but she was planning to resign and take a job with hourly pay so she could work overtime and make enough money to rent a new place in the range of $1,550.

“I was thinking (after the promotion) that it would be better, but it is not better,” Nolan said at the time.

I was outraged. Hadn’t we all been led to believe that the American dream was within reach if we just worked hard enough?

Median rents in Atlanta have risen 76% from 2010 and 2023, and the metro area lost 60,000 apartments with rents of $1,250 or less. The rents keep rising, but salaries lag far behind.

Nolan had applied for apartments in her price range but despite having steady employment, her application was denied because of her low credit score. In some parts of the metro area, the rent was double what she could afford. I wondered how Mayor Andre Dickens, who had pledged to make changes in affordable housing during his first 100 days, planned to help residents like Nolan.

I moved on to write about other things while Nolan’s life took another turn.

Credit: Dorice Nolan

Credit: Dorice Nolan

She moved into her sister’s duplex off Bankhead Highway. They didn’t have the best relationship and the apartment wasn’t in the best shape — the roof leaked and there was suspicious activity in the parking lot, she said — but Nolan needed shelter and the rent was only $1,000 per month.

Then, about a year after starting her new job, Nolan had a seizure at work. She still does not have a definitive diagnosis, but she is convinced the overload of stress from not having a safe and comfortable place to live harmed her health.

She was out of work for a year. Her medical leave ran out and she worked as a substitute teacher to cover the rent. Her children were back on Medicaid and she was back on public assistance.

Nolan decided she needed to manifest the life she wanted. She wrote in her journal that she would have a new apartment by Dec. 15, 2024.

She had applied for housing at a community in Capitol Gateway but had been rejected each time. This time, she wrote a letter asking the building management to reconsider. One day, Nolan left work early to visit the management office in person and tell them her story.

Her credit wasn’t the best but she had once again been promoted to a phlebotomy supervisor, she told the leasing agent, and now she was in nursing school and she wasn’t a slacker — and she really needed a better place to live.

Every week Nolan returned, on a Monday or Friday. She sent emails. She made phone calls. But weeks went by and she still did not have an apartment.

Finally, in mid-December, Nolan got a response. She could pick up her keys on Dec. 13.

Nolan was making more money than she had ever made in her life but she was still worried that she didn’t have enough to cover the cost of moving.

Her co-workers, a supportive group of women who infused her life with positive energy and sisterhood asked, “What do you need?”

“I can’t even tell you because no one has ever asked,” Nolan replied.

On the Friday before she left work to sign her lease, her co-workers gathered to sing Christmas carols and give her cards and money they had collected. When she was ready to move in they stepped up again, donating furniture and home decor. As Nolan decorated her new space, she vowed to leave anything and anyone with bad energy behind her. She focused on the goodness that people have brought to her life.

“I am so thankful that God placed people in my life who care about people,” Nolan said. “If they see one struggling, they feel we are all struggling.”

In May, Nolan’s youngest child will graduate from high school. In July 2027, Nolan will graduate from Chamberlain University’s accelerated nursing program to become a nurse practitioner.

At the end of our call, Nolan reiterated the importance of stable housing in her evolution. She laughed when she told me she would be living her American dream at age 60.

But when I heard the light in her voice, such a dramatic shift from our conversation two years ago, I knew she was living part of that dream right now.

Read more on the Real Life blog (AJC.com/opinion/real-life-blog), find Nedra on Facebook (facebook.com/AJCRealLifeColumn) and X (@nrhoneajc) or email her at nedra.rhone@ajc.com.