The Atlanta City Council unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday urging a crackdown on negligent landlords and property owners.
The resolution, introduced by Councilmember Andrea L. Boone, requesting that the Fulton County District Attorney investigate opportunities to criminally charge property owners and landlords who are in violation of the City of Atlanta’s Housing Code.
“We have to use every tool we can to protect people from negligent landlords,” Boone said. “Families in our city are living in horrible conditions due to neglectful landlords, which causes more crime against property and people. This legislation seeks to hold people responsible and to make sure bad landlords are rightfully held accountable. No one should live in these inhumane conditions.”
The legislation notes that based on the consumers’ ability to choose, some property owners and landlords have taken advantage of economic situations and have not adhered to certain obligations to provide decent and safe housing for tenants in Atlanta.
Other items approved Tuesday include:
• Legislation authorizing the city to donate a total amount not to exceed $500,000 to the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation to support the foundation’s “access to legal counsel” pilot program that will provide eviction defense services to eligible Atlanta residents. The foundation is the largest provider of pro bono legal services in Atlanta and provides more than 5,000 Atlantans with free legal services with the support of their staff and the other professionals and students who volunteer their services.
• A resolution urging the Georgia General Assembly to amend state law regarding the Sexual Offender Registration Review Board to adopt “Mariam’s Law,” which expands the requirements for individuals currently on the sex offender registry to better protect Georgia residents.
• An ordinance amending the city’s charter to amend the authority of the city to charge and collect taxes and assessments for sanitary and solid waste disposal services, to establish and collect rates, fees, and charges for the same, and to authorize the adoption of an administrative procedure for the resolution of disputes regarding the basis of a sanitary and solid waste tax or assessment against a property.
• An ordinance to amend the city’s zoning ordinance to create an overlay district for the Campbellton Road corridor – an area of residential, commercial, and mixed-use land uses that function as a main corridor of Southwest Atlanta.
• A resolution to encourage all the professional sports franchises of Atlanta find every way possible to partner together with the Department of Parks and Recreation to support and strengthen youth sports programming in the city to amplify the positive benefits attained through participation in youth sports.
• A resolution urging the mayor or his designee to conduct a feasibility study to provide recommendations regarding the establishment of a unit of park rangers to serve as dedicated enforcement to ensure the safety of City of Atlanta parks.
• An ordinance authorizing the City of Atlanta to donate American Rescue Plan Act funds to the Urban League of Greater Atlanta in an amount not to exceed $1 million in order to administer grants to youth-serving nonprofits to increase capacity to serve students disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• An ordinance authorizing an amendment to the 2021 Annual Action Plan to accept an additional award of American Rescue Plan funds made available to Atlanta through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Home-ARP grant to assist individuals or households who are homeless, at risk of homelessness, and other vulnerable populations, by providing housing, rental assistance, supportive services, and non-congregate shelter and to amend the Home Investment Partnerships Program fund budget totaling $7.9 million.
• A resolution to establish an Atlanta Police Department retention incentive payment for Fiscal Year 2023 to provide that the payment will be for the purpose of retaining sworn officers of the department.
• A resolution urging federal elected officials to pass legislation codifying the rights granted in the Supreme Court decisions of Griswold v. Connecticut; Loving v. Virginia; Lawrence v. Texas, and Obergefell v. Hodges, protecting the right to buy and use contraceptives interracial marriage, same-sex relationships, and the fundamental right to marry, respectively.
