Back in December, when the People’s Community Land Trust told the residents living at 379 Elm Street, a dilapidated, nine-unit multifamily apartment complex in Atlanta’s English Avenue neighborhood, that it would be lowering their rent, the immediate reaction was skepticism.
“Everyone was like, ‘What’s the catch?’” Nikishka Iyengar, founder and ecosystem director for The Guild, a local nonprofit organization focused on addressing inequalities in real estate through community development and ownership, recalled with a laugh at a Wednesday press conference. After all, metro Atlanta has become infamous as a market where big investors snatch up properties, contributing to the rising cost of living.
But there wasn’t one. Instead, the residents found themselves the potential beneficiaries of an experiment from a different kind of landlord and an uncommon goal in the real estate world. The land trust had designs on making Atlanta more affordable overall by buying up property, and 379 Elm Street was its test case.
A collaborative effort between local Black-led organizations Housing Justice League, The Guild and American Friends Service Committee’s Atlanta Economic Justice Program, the purchase was done specifically with the intent of creating a new model of property management that prioritizes keeping housing affordable for legacy residents. The land trust says the acquisition is the first of its kind in metro Atlanta.
“People in this property, Elm Street, which is in the English Avenue corridor, are very much at risk because of a lot of the changes that are happening around the stadium area around Georgia Tech,” said Zach Murray, a Guild organizer. “It was incredibly important for us to figure out an intervention in a community where there’s been a ton of displacement and abandonment of affordable properties.”
The small complex, which the land trust purchased from a private owner who PCLT says routinely raised the rent on residents, cost the group about $1.5 million.
“There had been a few evictions on the property,” Murray recalled. “For us, the PCLT is a very clear intervention against this investor takeover and to stop this pattern of harm that keeps happening in our communities.”
The current tenants, three of whom were inherited from the previous owner, pay on average $1,300 a month for the two-bedroom units. The land trust says that when the leases come up for renewal, the new rents will reflect affordable prices for households that earn less than 30% of the area median income — just under $29,000 annually for a family of four.
Murray also says the collective is drawing inspiration from similar organizations nationwide, like land trusts in Boston and the Oakland Community Land Trust.
Foluke Nunn, a community organizer with AFSC Atlanta, says the group is also working directly with Atlanta Housing Authority, Invest Atlanta, and the Atlanta Land Trust to create a program for housing vouchers and opportunities for potential ownership.
“We already began the process of connecting with local officials and agencies around vouchers and making sure we are getting to know the folks here in the English Avenue neighborhood who need this kind of assistance,” Nunn said. “We’ve talked a lot about the importance of connecting with folks who are also interested in contributing to the fight for renters’ rights in Atlanta.”
With the purchase of the multiunit property, the group has made its acquisition since forming last August to buy a single-family home where longtime Peoplestown resident Juliet Brown was facing eviction after renting the house for 27 years.
