Rising Up Against Rising Rent

Maya Angelou wrote, “The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.” As the weather grows colder, the idea of home - and returning home for the holidays - looms large in many minds. 

But in Peoplestown, the heart center for Emmaus House operations since 1967, the growing displacement of familiar faces, a bi-product of a new round of rampant gentrification across Atlanta, has challenged many long-time residents’ sense of place and belonging. Many are now grappling with how they can remain rather than succumb to pressure from developers.

About five years ago, Peoplestown resident Alison Johnson, Executive Director of the Housing Justice League (HJL) and an Emmaus House chapel member, began to witness firsthand the dramatic shift in the demographic makeup of her own neighborhood. She noticed more and more affluent white people moving in, while longstanding African American and Latinx community members moved away.

“I have been really concerned about the redevelopment projects that were moving into Peoplestown, and about the high rate of turnover in our community,” she said. Johnson’s mission with HJL, she added, is to “shine the light on people leaving our community.”

The rapidly changing landscape of Atlanta’s historic neighborhoods has been well-documented in recent years. This past July, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) reported that the “city too busy to hate” currently ranks as the fourth most “rapidly gentrifying” city in the country. According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, this placed Atlanta “behind only Washington, D.C., Seattle and Portland.”

But these kinds of stats and figures don’t quite tap into the excruciating question facing longtime Atlanta residents and city officials alike: Who stands to benefit most from these “improvements?” This question is what drives Johnson and her colleagues.

HJL’s work includes eviction defense, tenant association partnerships, and a multitude of community organizing projects. Throughout the organization’s evolution, Johnson said that HJL’s partnership with Emmaus House has “heightened my awareness of where my intentional work continues to happen.”

“Emmaus House is always the first place where action happens, especially in Peoplestown,” she said. “It’s very important that we cross-pollinate these two organizations, since we tend to serve the same population of people. To make sure that staff knew what we were about and make sure we were preserving our communities. Make sure that our schools can remain open and improve, and that we can improve our housing conditions and economic situations.”

In November, the AJC reported that Atlanta had been ranked in the “bottom third” for housing affordability in major metropolitan areas in the U.S.. This drop in affordability didn’t just affect those looking to buy property. According to a 2018 article in The Guardian, Atlanta’s “median rents are up 28% since 2000, compared with just 9% nationwide over the same timespan.” 

Johnson said that 73 percent of people living in the most rapidly gentrifying areas of Atlanta are long term renters. “The way that Atlanta has changed, [the city] has not prioritized people who are living in these legacy communities.”

As a community-led organization, HJL operates on the belief that housing is a human right. Through a variety of initiatives, Johnson and her team aim to empower renters and homeowners to self-organize and defend their right to remain — or, in other words, their right to protest against the same pattern of displacement that has been repeated over and over throughout Atlanta’s (and Peoplestown’s) history.

Part of HJL’s strategy of community empowerment entails providing resources to residents on Atlanta’s west and south sides to build up tenant associations, “to make sure that they can really represent their interests in terms of policies that are going to prevent them from being displaced.”

In 2017, HJL launched their Beltline for All initiative to create awareness and opportunities for direct action toward equitable housing policies by the city, in response to one of the greatest gentrification drivers, The Beltline. This 22-mile loop of trails and parks built upon old railroad lines across Atlanta is often regarded as ground zero for the fancy restaurants, boutiques and luxury apartment complexes that comprise the tell-tale markers of gentrification and displacement.

Although “affordability” may be a buzzword right now, Johnson said she has yet to see the city take serious steps toward helping those making less than $20,000 a year find housing that fits their budget. “Atlanta is saying they’re creating mixed-income community housing, but what they’re actually saying is, ‘We don’t trust people who are living below the poverty line to make good decisions about where they are living and their homes,’” Johnson said.

HJL has also created an eviction manual for community members--a tool available for download on the HJL website which details tenants’ rights in the eviction process, eviction defense, and ways to reduce displacement and debt caused by eviction. Johnson said she has seen high rates of “unjust evictions” in areas like Peoplestown that are under high pressure from investors.

 Johnson said her favorite part of this work is getting to engage directly in conversations with her neighbors. “I love watching the people who haven’t been a part of organizing before,” she said. “I love to see how they flourish once they understand the need of organizing and how it’s more sustainable than a one time fix-all.” 

Are you interested in plugging into HJL’s work on housing equity? Then you’re invited to attend their monthly “mass meeting,” a community gathering focused on upcoming actions and projects that occurs every third Tuesday of the month. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m., but newcomers are encouraged to arrive at 6 p.m. for a quick orientation.