By Lorraine Cochran-Johnson
Georgia’s state lawmakers recently introduced legislature to limit the impact of Wall Street Landlords called the Neighborhood Ownership Transparency and Accountability (NOTA) Act. These real estate investment groups, often private equity firms, buy sizeable numbers of single-family homes to rent out, impacting housing affordability, increasing eviction rates in already distressed communities.
Additionally, The Big Beautiful Bill will potentially aid in the homeownership decline. Portions of the Trump doctrine encourage group buying power and encourage housing speculation as it shields LLCs with a gluttony of tax loopholes and protects them from personal liability, leaving vulnerable tenants in converted rental properties subject to neglect and eviction.
NACA in partnership with State Representative El-Mahdi Holly and other Georgia state legislators has introduced legislation addressing the housing crisis by limiting the ability of these LLCs to drive up housing costs, reduce the supply of affordable homes, and shut working people out of the dream of homeownership.
Homeownership is traditionally considered the cornerstone of American prosperity — a symbol of stability, wealth-building, and generational legacy. But the dream of becoming a homeowner and a legitimate stakeholder in our communities is becoming increasingly inaccessible as properties are being acquired en masse by limited liability companies in cities and neighborhoods across the nation. Aspiring homeowners in cities from Augusta to Atlanta and Cartersville to Waycross are losing housing opportunities to LLCs in the business of treating communities as commodities while driving up property prices.
Homeownership rates in Georgia show significant disparities by race, with Asian and White households having the highest rates and Black and Pacific Islander households having the lowest.
According to America’s Health Rankings analysis published in May 2025, the homeownership rates in Georgia by race were:
White: 76.5 percent
Asian: 71.2 percent
Multiracial: 58.0 percent
Hispanic: 53.8 percent
Black: 51.9 percent
American Indian/Alaska Native: 43.9 percent
The housing crisis is not just about high prices; it’s about widening the inequity gap and locking – primarily lower income Americans – into a seemingly endless cycle of renting and restricting their ability to pass on wealth to future generations.
This reality is fueled by several factors that are not favorable for new and first-time home buyers. These factors include high interest rates, as the current U.S. economy is experiencing a period of mixed signals, with stability in some areas but significant risks and slowdowns in others.
Even more concerning are the proposed changes in federal loan programs, that have been a vehicle for countless Americans to home ownership.
Currently as a part of the proposed Big Beautiful Bill, comprehensive federal legislation will result in a 44% cut in Housing and Urban Development (HUD) programs funded by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These cuts will affect those who receive housing assistance programs through the National Housing Trust Fund and Community Development Block Grants.
The proposed changes in HUD will have a substantial impact on low to moderate income first-time buyers, veterans, and farm home loans, further defining and future of home ownership.
LLCs: The New Face of Housing Speculation and Neighborhood Decline
An email from the Holdings Channel – a financial research website – presents in alarming detail investment funds whose portfolios include major single family property holdings. In total, it names 574 funds holding this category of assets through Invitation Homes nationwide. Invitation Homes Inc. is a real estate investment trust that conducts its operations through Invitation Homes Operating Partnership LP
The largest private equity firms operating in the residential sector in Georgia include Blackstone, Greystar, Starwood Capital, and The Related Companies
This isn’t just entrepreneurship — it’s extraction. To counter this dangerous trend, legislators will have to advocate for constituents by putting in place measures to provide fair access to financing and develop pathways to help prospective buyers persist and navigate in these remarkably difficult and exclusionary housing scenarios.
Moreover, Americans should be aware of the increasing role they play in the consumption of real estate by private equity firms. Large-scale commercial acquisitions are fueled by institutional investors like pension boards fueled by working class Americans. A close look at the portfolios across the United States will show that firms pool capital from investors and use it to buy up large quantities of homes. After acquiring the properties, they increase cash flow by raising rents and then sell the portfolios for a profit within a few years.
Rising Home Prices
Median home prices in Georgia have soared over the last decade. Since the advent of the 2008 housing crisisthe median home price in Georgia roughly doubled, from about $150,000 to over $300,000. Some counties near Atlanta, such as Gwinnett, saw increases of 30% in just five years ending in 2022.
In the 2024-2025 housing cycleprice growth has slowed compared to the pandemic-era boom but continues to climb. During this time Georgia’s median sales price rose by 3% to $360,000. In metro Atlanta, prices were predicted to rise by as much as 6%. Experts project modest, but continued, price increases. In August 2025, the state’s median sale price was $380,000, a 2% year-over-year increase.
Rental Nation: When Homes Become Assets
As demand for rentals skyrockets, more individuals and corporations form LLCs to capitalize on the crisis. The result? A feedback loop where fewer people can afford to buy, more are forced to rent, and ownership becomes concentrated in the hands of the few.
It’s a case of profit over people and property is the vehicle. This relatively new breed of investors emerging amid the crisis, are fueled by business practices that treat individual quality of life with a lack of empathy. Their apathy is an asset to them, as they decimate any sense of autonomy and community control and lay waste to areas once known as neighborhoods.
Housing Subsidy Relief
Not surprisingly, Georgians facing housing insecurity can’t expect assistance from the current government. A public analysis of the Trump administration’s FY 2026 budget request confirms that it would drastically cut HUD’s funding (around 43–44 percent) and restructure most federal rental assistance into a State Rental Assistance Block Grant (SRABG)model.
Key features of the proposal include cuts in major HUD programs (Housing Choice Vouchers, public housing, project-based rental assistance, Section 202, Section 811) and a two-year limit on assistance for able-bodied, non-elderly, non-disabled households. After two years, benefits would terminate unless special exceptions apply. Elderly and disabled recipients of housing benefits will reportedly receive priority consideration, but the formula for making those determinations is vague and unclear.
The American Dream isn’t dead — it’s being auctioned off, one parcel at a time.
