Amidst a trend of increasing housing prices in Athens, new luxury apartments are beginning to encroach on historic districts of the city, displacing locals and creating a divide in housing availability.
In 2022, Athens-based real estate group Landmark Properties began construction to add an extra 446 bedrooms and 20,000 square feet of commercial space to its student apartment complex The Mark, and some of that construction has resulted in the removal of homes worth a total of $2.2 million in the historic neighborhood of Pottery Town. In order to accommodate this influx of potential new tenants, many of whom continue to move to The Mark each academic year, Landmark proposed the lease of a one-acre section of property on Broad Street which would provide space for a parking deck. That deal has since fallen through, but the damage to the historic neighborhood of Pottery Town has already been done.
“If you’re a developer, why would you build affordable housing when you could make one of these monstrosities for a bunch more money?” asked Chris Dowd of Athens Politics Nerd. The “monstrosities” in question are luxury apartment complexes commonly found in downtown Athens, which have attracted the attention of developers as, according to a 2019 study from the Athens Team of the Georgia Initiative for Affordable Housing, tens of thousands of University of Georgia students seek off-campus apartments.
Financial writer Adam McCann ranked the Athens-Clarke County area as the best real estate market in Georgia in 2021, due in part to increasing demand for homes in the city. As housing prices rise, however, working-class Athenians are struggling to keep up. Data collected from Apartment List, a housing database that releases monthly reports, showed a 3% increase in rent in 2018, and supply chain issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to have driven up that number.
The Housing Market Affects Athenians
“Athens is a city that has a significant amount of inequality,” said Jermaine Durham, the director of the Georgia Initiative for Community Housing. According to the 2020 Georgia Report from Talk Poverty, the poverty line for a family of four in Georgia is $25,926. If a person at that salary spends 30% of their annual income on monthly rent, the maximum amount they could afford to pay is about $650. With new developments like The Mark regularly charging upwards of $800 per month, many working-class Athenians find their options for housing limited by the rise in expensive apartment complexes along with long waiting lists for affordable housing.
Steven Mason, the executive director of Bigger Vision of Athens, explained that “it’s cheaper for landlords to sell space by the bedroom” as opposed to renting out spaces that can accommodate families.
Athens-Clarke County mayor Kelly Girtz also cited the emphasis on student housing as a player in the lack of housing availability for working-class Athenians, stating that there is a “disproportionate investment” in apartment complexes aimed at students.
The rising housing prices, although dependent on a multitude of factors, are troubling in their effects on those who call Athens home. Young professionals and students who flock to the city for school and work inadvertently create greater demand for high-end housing, and according to a 2017 study from Envision Athens, over 40,000 people working in Athens now commute from nearby cities because increasing rent prices have pushed them to move to less dense communities.
Rising rent, however, has been impacted by a perfect storm of factors since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. After home prices sharply declined during the 2008 recession, Athens’ housing market rose in cost more rapidly than any other metro area in the state, with the exception of Atlanta. Interest rate hikes, meant to help rein in inflation, make housing even more unattainable.
Hopeful Prospects
The University of Georgia is undeniably the biggest beast in Athens’s arsenal. The university is the metro area’s largest employer, and each August tens of thousands of students–many with money to spend–flood the city. In 2018, the estimated median income amongst UGA students was $129,800, one of the highest among the state’s public universities.
Studies from the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute show that HOPE and Zell Miller scholarships, which are awarded on a year-to-year basis and subsidize or fully cover the cost of tuition, are disproportionately granted to students of higher means. At the University of Georgia, 98% of incoming undergraduates are awarded aid, although many do not qualify for continued support in future semesters. Across public universities, the percentage of students who qualify for HOPE or Zell Miller drops in correlation with family income.
For many recipients of those scholarships, the money that may have otherwise been spent on tuition can be re-allocated to other luxuries. In 1994 and 1995, following the first implementation of HOPE and Zell Miller within UGA, new car registrations rose as scholarships were awarded. Now that cars are more common within Athens, many young scholars may choose to use their untouched tuition funds on rent. Some luxury apartment complexes in Athens market themselves as offering a “resort-style” experience to students, many flaunting infinity pools, exercise facilities, and even jumbo-sized outdoor screens for watching sports.
It’s no secret that the University of Georgia’s reputation as a hub for athletics, academics, and fun has made it desirable to students near and far. Its generosity, while attracting incoming classes each more studious and qualified than the next, however, has had lingering effects on Athens’ locals. As Athens continues to skyrocket in popularity amidst inflation, increasing housing prices, and the lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, how the city’s demographics will shift in the future is sure to be an interesting question.
