I-TEAM: Augusta leaders address crisis of affordable housing

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - An update to an I-Team investigation into the city’s growing affordable-housing crisis.

On Tuesday, Augusta commissioners addressed the problem we exposed last month.

Our I-Team uncovered out-of-state investors are buying up cheap housing in Augusta and evicting long term tenants like Kim Wright. On Tuesday, she brought her plea to commissioners to address the crisis.

Rental prices have increased by more than 10 percent over the last year in the Augusta area. Wright never missed a rent payment during the pandemic but now faces eviction next month with no place to call home. She told commissioners’ her situation like many others in Augusta is dire.

“People are being forced to move into houses that aren’t adequate. I looked at a house myself, and it had dirt floors. And they wanted $500 a month,” said Wright.

Mayor Hardie Davis said: “The short of it is — we got a lot of work to do.”

The mayor pointed out most of what they’re discussing right now is market rate housing, and there is that missing middle.

Commissioner Jordan Johnson referenced our I-Team story and said this is a problem they keep hearing. He suggested a workshop so commissioners could put their heads together and decide how they can make housing more affordable in Augusta.

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