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Atlanta City Council considers banning harassment of residents into selling their homes

9/13/18 - Atlanta - Matt Westmoreland confers with Jennifer Ide as Atlanta city council members attended a committee work session to study the Gulch deal. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms faces a big test yet of her tenure as mayor with a pending vote to approve a massive public subsidy to redevelop downtown’s Gulch. The up to $5 billion project, which could include $2 billion in public financing, will require Bottoms to convince the council that the skyline-altering project is worth the public investment. BOB ANDRES /BANDRES@AJC.COM
9/13/18 - Atlanta - Matt Westmoreland confers with Jennifer Ide as Atlanta city council members attended a committee work session to study the Gulch deal. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms faces a big test yet of her tenure as mayor with a pending vote to approve a massive public subsidy to redevelop downtown’s Gulch. The up to $5 billion project, which could include $2 billion in public financing, will require Bottoms to convince the council that the skyline-altering project is worth the public investment. BOB ANDRES /BANDRES@AJC.COM
By Stephen Deere
Oct 26, 2020

The city of Atlanta could soon outlaw predatory tactics of investors who coerce longtime residents into selling their homes.

Atlanta has seen home values rise by as much as 50 percent over the past decade, according to an ordinance that the City Council’s Public Safety and Administration Committee will consider today.

And some residents in poorer traditionally Black neighborhoods have received a barrage of offers from investors to purchase their property. The homeowners often do so at below market rates.

The proposed ordinance, sponsored by Councilman Matt Westmoreland, would make it a misdemeanor for anyone to repeatedly contact a homeowner to buy their house within a six-month time period when the homeowner has asked them to stop.

This story will be updated after the council’s 2 p.m committee meeting.

About the Author

Stephen Deere covers Atlanta City Hall and Atlanta government.

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