ATLANTA — Georgia lawmakers are again targeting corporate landlords in a bid to address housing costs during an election year when voters are concerned about affordability.
“I have a grave fear that we are becoming a nation of renters and not homeowners,” said Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, who is running for lieutenant governor.
Regular home buyers do not have the deep pockets to compete with institutional investors when trying to buy a home, he said. His solution is Senate Bill 463, which would cap corporate ownership at 500 single-family rental homes.
A Senate committee passed his measure Tuesday despite industry opposition.
SB 463 would allow tenants and other aggrieved parties to sue if they found that a corporation was in violation of the ownership limit. Dolezal said that would skirt constitutional challenges against state overreach with direct enforcement.
But Austin Hackney, executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of Georgia, still questioned whether that would pass legal muster.
The use of lawsuits rather than state enforcement is “walking a constitutional tightrope” rarely seen in legislation, Hackney said, adding it “is a strong indicator that that the right to private property is on the chopping block here.”
A critic representing Realtors said they oppose the bill because it would affect “mom and pop” Georgia landlords who had amassed “generational wealth” through real estate.
Current owners of more than 500 homes would be held harmless by the legislation.
The bill also targets foreign owners because, Dolezal said, “we are trying to prevent foreign entities from buying American homes that we believe should be for American families to own.”
The measure now moves to the full Senate. The House already has similar legislation.
House Bill 555 sought to limit companies from having an ownership interest in more than 2,000 single-family residences or 10 multifamily residences in Georgia. A House committee approved it last March despite constitutional concerns. It has not had another hearing.
The issue has become bipartisan.
Lawmakers passed a more limited measure into law last year that was led by a Democrat. House Bill 399, by Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Decatur, required out-of-state investors, such as hedge funds, to have a local broker and property manager for their Georgia rental properties.
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Democrat who is fending off a Republican challenge for his seat, launched a public inquiry last spring into the way corporate landlords treat tenants.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat, an initiative of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.