Athens Housing Advocacy Team

We are not currently processing expense requests so that we can evaluate the number of new rules from OpenCollective and update our processes. We will also use this time to transition the admin team and train new leaders. We cannot confirm how long this process will take- thank you for your understanding and supporting us through this experiment in grassroots community resource redistribution.

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Prosperity Capital Partners, a real estate company located in Florida, recently purchased units in Athens-Clarke County located in the neighborhoods of Highland Park, Hidden Pines, Lexington Heights, and Rosemary Place - all neighborhoods with the few remaining affordable housing units in Athens-Clarke County.

Their affiliated management company, Strategic Management Partners, has notified residents that they will no longer accept Section 8 housing vouchers and will be hiking up the rent at unsustainable amounts, with many residents experiencing a rent increase of more than double what they have been paying for years. Mass amounts of Athenians face displacement and homelessness.

On top of that, the management company of all of these neighborhoods (Strategic Management Partners) refuses to respond to resident maintenance requests, especially requests that endanger the well-being of residents and their families, such as mold, malfunctioning AC/heat, roaches and rats, etc.

We need your help! Please consider donating what you can (See below under "Give Aid!")
The Athens Housing Advocacy Team (AHAT) is supporting residents in this difficult and urgent time. Residents need help with gathering funds for moving logistics, finding storage units, providing security deposits, acquiring legal aid, completing new rental applications, etc. 

- Submit a request:
1) Make an Open Collective account if you don't already have one (upper right corner, click sign in then create an account).
2) Come back to opencollective.com/ahat and submit a request (drop-down menu upper right corner).
3) Upload a copy, screenshot, or picture of the expense you need paid and your payment method (PayPal or bank account only)
4) Submit your request!**
** Please note that we may not be able to fully cover your expense depending on the amount of funds we receive and the number of people who need aid.

- Expenses to secure housing and moving support

Examples include: 

 

- donate at opencollective.com/ahat
1) Click the red box that says "Contribute" at the bottom of the page!
- Email [email protected] to get involved

We are a grassroots activist group that centers community-led power and autonomy as part of a broader Athens-wide housing justice movement by collaborating and building relationships with renters and allies to fight for the right to affordable, healthy, dignified, stable housing as both a human right and the right to the city.

-Read the following resources for more information about what’s going on in Athens:
Tenants of Strategic Management Partners demand repairs, lower rent