Ashley Rodriguez loves living in Atlanta’s Summerhill neighborhood. Her two children can play in nearby parks, she can walk to her favorite restaurants, and it feels pretty safe.
“The people that live here are great, too, and the schools are also good,” she said. “If I had my way, I wouldn’t leave.”
But because she’s renting her home, she may not be able to stay. Since 2019, her rent has increased by more than 25%, from $1,995 to $2,500. Her limit is $2,600 before she’ll have to move.
Skyrocketing rents have made it nearly impossible for people of middle-class incomes to live in Atlanta, a problem exacerbated by hedge funds and private equity groups that snatched up single-family homes as investment properties in the city and across the nation during the pandemic.
It leaves people like Rodriguez paying more in rent even though, she said, the home has had no upgrades in the last six years, and paint is peeling.