Housing Prices in Athens Rise as Residents Struggle to Afford Rent

While the Athens Land Trust and Athens-Clarke County government work to help address the problem of affordable housing, the cost of living continues to get more expensive.

Sherri Hannah always wanted to own a home of her own. She accomplished that goal with the help of the Athens Land Trust. But she will never forget how difficult it was to find affordable housing.

“I realized that there is not a lot of affordable housing in the Athens area, and when I began to do my search for homeownership I was looking outside of Athens,” said Hannah.

Hannah says people often look to less dense places like Madison and Barrow County just to find housing they can afford, as housing in Athens has become increasingly unaffordable, especially for lower-income residents.

According to The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), housing is affordable if no more than 30% of a household’s income is consumed, meaning the price of housing in Athens is rising above that threshold.

“It seems as though developments are getting more and more expensive and people’s incomes are not going up. So it’s just creating a bigger and bigger gap between what people can afford and what things cost,” said Athens Land Trust Director Heather Benham.

Benham points to the disparity between income and rising property values as a reason for a lack of affordable housing.

With 38% of the population already living in poverty compounded with a global pandemic, the need for affordable homes is even more urgent.

At the same time people are coming to the land trust looking for affordable housing, placing a great strain on the organization.

“Everybody’s just calling each other at a loss of where to send people because it doesn’t seem like there are any openings anywhere for folks. So a lot of people are staying in hotels right now,” said Benham. “Right now we’re operating an emergency COVID Assistance Program. So for folks that are trying to avoid foreclosure or eviction.”

Despite COVID-19, the issue around the availability of affordable housing was already occurring.

Hannah, who has lived in Athens for nearly 40 years says that in the past the price of housing was substantially lower. But over the years prices just keep going up.

“I could get a two bedroom duplex for about $450, Max. And now, years later, it’s $800 to $1,000, just to get a decent apartment,” said Hannah.

“In Athens, it’s always going to be very difficult to overcome the cost of the dirt,” said Andrew Saunders, the director of central services for Athens Clarke County.

Saunders says the cost of development is also to blame for the rising prices for rental properties and homes.

Not only is land expensive, but it’s also scarce. Meaning that there is not a lot of room to build new apartments or houses.

“You just can’t make an acre of land close to the university less valuable,” said Saunders.

Margaret Songster is part of the Athens Office of Sustainability and says zoning plays a role in limiting the availability of affordable housing in Athens.

“Zoning is definitely a huge issue because it can restrict some things or that wasn’t really intentional,” said Songster. “We just need to update some things in some areas, or we need to start being creative about how we look towards zoning rules and regulations within Athens [Clarke] County.”

Exclusionary zoning like the single-family ordinance can adversely affect lower-income residents from finding affordable housing. Affordable housing options like tiny houses and in-law suites are prohibited under exclusionary zoning codes.

There are ongoing talks within the city government to implement inclusionary zoning codes to provide affordable housing, but as of now those talks are still in progress.

“There is an inclusionary housing code that’s being studied by our planning department that will likely come before our voting commission within the next few months,” said Saunders. “ I believe most of the codes I’ve seen along those lines have some kind of incentive to a development that has affordability built into it.”