Atlanta, a city of opportunity, diversity and innovation, is the definition of the American dream for many of our residents. But rising costs have made the American dream of homeownership and affordable, accessible housing options impossible for many Atlantans and working people across our state.
As mayor, I am a proud advocate for expanding access to housing. My administration is committed to building 20,000 affordable housing units throughout the city by 2030. We introduced reforms such as inclusionary zoning, mandating the development of affordable housing projects in areas that would otherwise price out too many of our neighbors. We are using public land, tax incentives and increased coordination with partners to accelerate development, ensuring that more Atlantans have access to safe and stable homes.
Credit: SYLVIA McAFEE
Credit: SYLVIA McAFEE
However, in a Republican-controlled state with no rent control and unchecked greed by corporate landlords, I know the best way to drive progress and ensure that all members of our community have access to affordable housing is at the federal level.
With Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, we have the chance to elect a champion for the middle class who is ready to lower costs and provide economic opportunity for all Americans, including addressing our housing shortage.
This issue is personal for the vice president. Harris understands what owning a home means to Georgia’s working families because it mirrors her own story. She was raised by a working mother in a neighborhood where homeownership represented a pathway to financial security.
She has fought for the middle class her entire career. As attorney general of California during the 2008 housing crisis, she took on Wall Street and secured billions of dollars in relief for working families. She knows that our nation’s housing affordability crisis forces too many families to put the American dream of homeownership on hold.
Harris’ plan to lower housing costs for working families will deliver a historic $25,000 down payment for first-time homebuyers to help families realize their dreams of owning a home and build generational wealth. Given that the average Georgian can expect to pay a down payment that ranges from $45,000 to $55,000, Harris’ plan will have a real impact across our city.
Fifty-five percent of Atlantans are renters, and 48% are cost-burdened, fueled by Georgia’s decadeslong ban on rent regulation. Between 2019 and 2023, rent in metro Atlanta went up 35.6%, while wages only went up 12.2%.
Harris is facing this crisis head-on. To further the ongoing efforts from the Biden-Harris administration to expand rental assistance, boost housing supply and enforce fair housing laws, a Harris-Walz administration would stop rent-setting data firms from price fixing to raise rents and stop investors from buying up the housing stock. More than 17% of homes across Georgia have been acquired by medium, large and mega-investors, driving up prices in an already competitive market. Harris would go after Wall Street investors and billionaires who are rigging our housing market and jacking up costs, pushing the American dream of homeownership out of reach.
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, likes to claim he was a real estate developer and builder, but, in reality, he’s just like the corporate investors here in Atlanta buying up our housing and putting profit over people.
As a landlord, he used underhanded tactics to evict his tenants and was sued by the Justice Department for refusing to rent to Black families. As president, he tried to gut rental assistance, and new home construction slowed under his administration.
Trump and the Republican Party have shown us time and time again that they don’t care about the middle class or Georgia’s working families; they care about their billionaire buddies who want to keep the American dream for themselves. Trump’s extremist Project 2025 agenda would raise rents on low-income families, manipulate the housing market for corporations and make it impossible for a middle-class person to own their own home.
This city needs a pro-housing president who understands the significance of buying your own home, not a billionaire born with a silver spoon in his mouth. I’m proud to support Harris for president. Together, we can build a future where homeownership and access to equitable, affordable housing isn’t just the American dream, but the American reality for all Georgians.
Andre Dickens is the mayor of Atlanta.
