Affordability is Relative: How UGA is Upending the Athens Housing Market

Thousands of students flood Athens each year, eating up the housing market. The rest are left with crumbs.

Each year rent prices in Athens, Georgia increase by 10–20%. Sometimes that can be a difference of $100–200. It’s money that many residents don’t have. As these increases are pushing lower-income workers out of their homes, can anything be done, can anyone be held accountable? Some people want the University of Georgia and its students to own up to the problem.

“It’s all the students because people rent out rooms now and they’re rented out per bedroom,” said Shawlyn Colbert, a longtime Athens resident. “They’re charging a premium per bedroom. Just imagine it was a single mom, she has two kids and she couldn’t pay per bedroom for her and her two kids. ”

UGA students come to Athens to get an education, but with each student comes an adverse effect on the community. They bring in outside wealth and many don’t leave after finishing school.

“UGA absolutely affects the housing market because a lot of what we see is that affordability comes in different brackets,” said Robin Schultze, ACC Planning and Zoning Department. “Affordable housing isn’t just within the lowest common bracket it’s every step of the way. And so, we do find a sort of housing build for that sort of middle ground, a lot of that gets bought by investors and then turned into rental properties for students. And it makes it really hard for families to find housing, especially ones, in Athens, which historically has a pretty low area median income.”

As a student myself, I have struggled to find housing that is affordable in Athens. Affordability however has a different definition for everyone.

“Affordability is relative,” said Representative Spencer Frye. “The more money you make, the more you can spend right. So, what I like to say is cost manageable housing. Cost management is the term that gives people a different view of how the market is within a community. If you say ‘we don’t have any affordable housing in Athens,’ then the issue turns into an, oh there’s people who can’t afford it, they must not be working hard enough. Very similar to the minimum wage argument. But if you say we don’t have any low-cost housing or cost manageable housing in Athens, then it’s a community issue — it flips the perception.”

Whether this is looked at from an affordability or cost management perspective, the cause is residents becoming homeless or forced out of their own city.

As I interviewed long-time Athens residents and experts in the community, I asked them how could we hypothetically fix the Athens housing market?

“Aspirationally I think limiting the amount of property that somebody out of town, can buy in a certain place, said Aaron Hall, ACC Planning and Zoning Department. “I don’t think that’ll ever happen but I do think that there are too many people that are from, you know, all over, buying into Athens just to make a $1, and that is snubbing a lot of people in town.”