Wall Street’s Takeover of Atlanta’s Housing Market – Recording

It’s no secret that the American Dream, of a single-family home with a white picket fence, is out of reach for the vast majority of Americans, especially Black and brown people. But did you know that large corporations are buying up homes in growing cities, quietly pushing that dream further and further out of sight? Atlanta is at the forefront of this trend, both in scale and racialized impact.

Large companies and investment firms have been strategically purchasing homes in communities across the country, putting forward lucrative all-cash offers that make it much more difficult for working and middle-class families to compete.  These companies either flip the homes for a profit or rent them out to the same families who now have been pushed out of the homebuying market. With both of these practices, corporate owners of single-family homes are undermining the largest wealth producer for middle-class families and exacerbating inequality.

Officially deemed “unaffordable” by the federal government, Atlanta’s housing market has skyrocketed in recent years, threatening its longstanding, majority-Black residents. With an influx of high-wage tech workers and tech companies buying starter homes in bulk, the iBuyer model brings the perfect storm of housing inaccessibility to Atlanta.

On Thursday, July 14th at 12-1pm ET (9-10am PT), we tackled these predatory practices. We heard from experts about the far-reaching impacts of corporate homeownership both locally and nationally and what public policy and corporate practices can be implemented to make the American Dream attainable in Atlanta once again.

The webinar was moderated by Sean Keenan, Housing Affordability Journalist at Atlanta Civic Circle. Panelists included:

• Mike Alexander, COO at Atlanta Regional Commission
• Dr. Elora Raymond, Assistant Professor of City & Regional Planning at Georgia Tech
• Alison Johnson, Executive Director at Housing Justice League

This event was co-hosted by Atlanta Civic Circle, Abundant Housing Atlanta, and TechEquity Collaborative.