Neighbors, city leaders weigh in on proposed Atlanta blight tax. Here’s how it would work

A proposed “Blight tax” would increase the penalties for owners of vacant, abandoned, and blighted properties in Atlanta.

As previously reported by Channel 2 Action News, Mayor Andre Dickens and Councilmember Byron Amos have proposed having the owners of abandoned or neglected properties face higher tax bills, with a proposed 25 times higher increase than the current Atlanta property tax rate.

“We’re talking about the ones that you drive by and say, how does that exist in the city of Atlanta? Those are the properties that we’re going after,” Amos told Channel 2 Consumer Investigative Reporter Justin Gray.

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Thomas Hodges said investors bought the house next door to him just steps from the King Center in the historic Old Fourth Ward after it was damaged by fire in 2019.

This has had lots of vagrants come in and out of it,” Hodges said.

It has sat vacant and damaged for nearly five years now.

“We definitely need something that will incentivize these investors to actually make moves on their property instead of just letting them rot,” Hodges told Channel 2 Action News .

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For larger scale properties, the proposal would also make the owners agree to a detailed redevelopment plan. The plans would have to address what the city called neighborhood objectives related to connectivity, transportation, and public amenities.

The mayor’s office said the proposed blight tax would be used “to crack down on neglected properties that contribute to blighted conditions and disinvestment in Atlanta neighborhoods.”

Jim Moss lives just a few doors down from that vacant O4W home.

“I don’t think those people that are investors are necessarily vested in taking care of the property as they should. And maybe this tax could, encourage them in a way, to do so,” Moss said.

Councilman Amos says the penalties under current city code are not stiff enough to deter some bad property owners.

“The reason this is so important because right now we’re only able to find people $1,000 per incident as we go to court,” Amos said.

According to the plan, the ordinance would let the city push property owners to either fix or redevelop the blighted properties while empowering the municipal court to impose the blight tax on the properties in question, “fundamentally changing the economics of neglectful land speculation.”

Any properties that are occupied would be exempt from the blight tax program to ensure nobody living there is involuntarily displaced.

“If we can find a way to hold investors accountable, and not families that are trying to own their own homes, I’m incredibly for it,” Hodges said.

“Since taking office, our Administration has moved with urgency to address substandard housing and root out negligent property owners,” Dickens said in a statement. “This new policy will equip the City with a powerful tool for cracking down on corporate, absentee owners who treat property as a cheap investment vehicle rather than part of the fabric of our communities.”

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