James Nov-Dec 2023 web - Flipbook - Page 23
JAMES recently interviewed
Brett Duke, chairman of the
Atlanta Apartment Association,
about the state of Georgia’s
apartment industry. He is
also president of Investment
Management with Atlantic
Pacific Companies.
ing $1.4B in property taxes. Most
professional apartment housing providers belong to the Georgia Apartment Association, and our members
provide more than 600,000 apartment homes to 1.1 million Georgians.
JAMES What can you tell our readers
about the challenges facing your
industry today?
duke One of the biggest challenges
looming right now, particularly in
JAMES Tell us about your company and metro Atlanta, is a broken eviction
Georgia’s apartment industry?
process. Property owners have lost
the ability to take back possession of
duke I’m proud to say Atlantic Pacifapartments where the resident has
ic is a fourth-generation real estate
stopped paying or is creating an unowner, operator and developer whose safe environment for other residents.
portfolio includes over 20,000 marWhat was once a 30 to 45-day
ket-rate and affordable multi-family
prescriptive legal process is now
units across the Sunbelt, Mid-Atlan- wholly unpredictable and takes 9 to
tic and West Coast.
12 months to complete on average.
As for Georgia’s apartment inThis crisis is not only generating
dustry, it is an impressive economic extreme financial insecurity on
engine contributing $4.1 billion to
properties, forcing some local ownthe local economy each year, includ- ers to sell to outside investors who
are less invested in the community.
It also creates security challenges
on properties as we have no way to
remove residents or guests who are
engaging in illegal activity.
Another huge challenge is the
significant insurance cost increases
housing providers are experiencing due to Georgia’s inadequate
state tort laws on premises liability. Our insurance providers
tell us that it is the threat of a
“jackpot jury” in Georgia courts,
among other premises liability
issues, driving these surging
costs. They far surpass what
we’re experiencing in other states.
All of this comes at a time when
housing affordability is top of mind.
These broken legal systems— both
the eviction process and Georgia’s
tort laws— play a significant role in
driving up housing costs. Meanwhile,
we continue to see policies like rent
control brought up as affordable housing solutions when, in fact, that has
been shown to do the opposite. We
have decades of evidence showing
rent control is an ill-conceived policy
that fails to help low-income renters,
creates extreme supply constraints,
results in deferred maintenance on
existing properties, and ultimately
drives housing providers and investment out of the market.
JAMES How does the market look for
the remainder of this year and going
into next for Georgia’s housing
providers?
duke Georgia still has a strong housing market as we continue to be a
place where businesses and their
employees want to live. However, the
challenges I just mentioned are playing a role in driving capital to other
markets and away from Georgia.
JAMES There is media focus on crime
and safety in apartment housing.
How have companies like yours and
members of the apartment association responded?
duke Unfortunately, the media focus
on particularly challenged properties
in Atlanta unfairly paints the industry with a broad brush. Professional
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