Homeownership in Southwest Atlanta should be attainable, not unreachable
I know what it’s like to fight for a home. Years ago, someone stole my family’s house.
They forged the signatures of my mother and my deceased grandmother and uncle on the deed and robbed us of the home where my mother was raised.
It took us years in court, navigating the legal process, as well as years of stress, to win it back.
That house held generations of memories, pride and identity. We nearly lost it to someone who saw our family and our neighborhood as a quick profit.
That experience shaped my life. It’s one of the reasons I went to law school and became a real estate attorney.
It’s why I started my legal career at Harvard helping low-income families keep their homes in the face of unlawful evictions.
I later cofounded a real estate firm that partners with churches and nonprofits to build affordable homes in underinvested neighborhoods.
Today, I serve on the board of the Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, a nonprofit that builds and advocates for affordable homes in and around Atlanta.
Black homeownership lags compared to other groups in Atlanta
My family’s story isn’t unique. My parents moved to Southwest Atlanta in the 1970s. My dad bought a house in Ben Hill, where he and my mom raised me and my sisters on middle-class incomes. That dream is now slipping out of reach for too many families because homes are simply too expensive. Since 2000, median home prices in metro Atlanta have risen more than 150%, while wages and salaries have not kept up.
Today, Southwest Atlanta is a majority-Black community where fewer than half of the homes are owner-occupied. Across metro-Atlanta, we see a stark gap: the Black homeownership rate is 25 percentage points lower than the white homeownership rate. That gap isn’t accidental. It stems from redlining, disinvestment and wage inequality. A 2024 Georgia Tech study estimates that Black families have lost $681 million in home equity in the past decade alone. That’s lost generational wealth!
The harder it gets to buy a home, the harder it gets to build wealth. For everyone but the richest Americans, homeownership is the foundation of net worth. Without equity, it’s harder to start a business, pay for college or survive a medical emergency. Many in my generation are renting longer and saving where they can, but being patient often means being priced out. Equity grows over time, and if you can’t even get in the game, you’re left behind.
Even for homeowners, the pressure is real. As property values rise, so do taxes, and so have real estate scams, threatening longtime residents, especially seniors. That’s why I recently shared my family’s story with a group of seniors at the Evelyn G. Lowery Library on Cascade Road, because when a family loses a home, whether to a scam or to rising taxes, we lose more than just a house. We lose security, legacy and power.
Here are a few ideas for preserving and creating more housing
But all isn’t lost. In recent years, Black homeownership in Atlanta has made modest gains. To build on that progress, our leaders need to act boldly and implement a two-part strategy that protects the homeowners we already have and creates more paths to homeownership. That means increasing property tax relief for seniors, expanding home repair and legal aid programs, and addressing affordability by building more affordable homes, supporting community land trusts and broadening access to down payment assistance.
We talk a lot about equity in Atlanta. But you can’t talk about equity without talking about land — who owns it, who controls it and who gets to stay. Homeownership is one of the clearest paths to generational wealth, and too many of our neighbors have been kicked out, pushed out, or priced out.
Imagine a Southwest Atlanta where every generation can own homes on the same block. Where homeownership isn’t a gamble, but a reachable goal. My family fought for our house (and won), and I’ve spent years helping others do the same. We can protect the wealth we have, open new doors, and build a community where everyone has the power to stay, grow and thrive.
Nate Jester is a real estate attorney, board member of the Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, founder of a collaborative real estate development firm, and candidate for Atlanta City Council.
