Matt Reynolds, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Journalist Profile

Articles

Georgia high court weighs limits on tenant claims against housing authorities

1 day ago | ajc.com | Matt Reynolds

The Georgia Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in a closely watched case to decide if housing authorities in the state are shielded from liability when tenants sue them over violent crime or other dangerous conditions. Christina Guy, a former tenant at the Dogwood Terrace apartment complex in downtown Augusta, sued the city’s housing authority in the summer of 2022 after she was shot in the leg on her front porch during an armed robbery the previous November, according to court records.
Ossoff launches investigation into corporate takeover of Atlanta housing market

1 week ago | ajc.com | Matt Reynolds

U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff said Wednesday he is investigating corporate landlords and out-of-state companies buying up single-family homes in bulk, with inquiries to four major players to gauge their footprint and impact on the affordability and availability of housing in the state.
Atlanta restarts homeless encampment sweeps after pause

1 week ago | ajc.com | Matt Reynolds

The city of Atlanta resumed homeless encampment sweeps Monday after a 45-day moratorium caused by the death of a homeless man crushed by heavy construction equipment during a January city sweep. The closure of the large homeless encampment beneath the I-75/I-85 overpass on Pryor Street in downtown Atlanta began at 7:30 a.m. Monday, according to the mayor’s office.
Judge won’t halt government’s case against owner of Atlanta apartments

2 weeks ago | ajc.com | Matt Reynolds

An Ohio judge has ruled against Millennia Housing Management after the national affordable housing company — which owns the condemned Forest Cove apartments in Atlanta — argued that federal enforcement proceedings against it are unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster sided with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Monday, finding the court does not have jurisdiction to decide the company’s constitutional claims.
Affordable housing proposals for Bankhead sought by Beltline

2 weeks ago | ajc.com | Matt Reynolds

Atlanta Beltline Inc. officials said Monday they are seeking proposals to help build affordable single-family housing on the largest property it owns in the city. The Beltline acquired the 31-acre tract of land at 425 Chappell Road in Bankhead and Historic Westin Heights in 2021, for $25.6 million from home builder Brock Built Homes. In the years since, officials have pushed a mixed-use vision for the site, located half a mile south of the Bankhead MARTA station.
More Atlanta home sellers are offering buyer concessions as market shifts

2 weeks ago | ajc.com | Matt Reynolds

Sellers in metro Atlanta offered concessions to buyers in 62% of home sales in the first quarter of 2025 — an increase of about 5 percentage points over the same period last year, indicating another tilt in the real estate market toward buyers, according to real estate brokerage firm Redfin. The new report found that metro Atlanta has one of the largest concession rates in the country, behind only Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon.
Few fixes for Georgia's severe housing crisis got passed in the 2025 legislative session

1 month ago | ajc.com | Matt Reynolds

At the beginning of the 2025 legislative session at the Georgia State Capitol, more than 100 housing-related bills were on the agenda, mirroring the large scale of the Peach State’s housing crisis. Fewer than 10 housing bills survived Crossover Day on March 6 — a deadline marking whether bills move from the House to the Senate in the Georgia General Assembly or, in a two-year session, are left in limbo until 2026.
Georgia Section 8 apartment complexes sue RPM Living, seeking $34M in damages

1 month ago | ajc.com | Matt Reynolds

Eight Georgia affordable apartment complexes have sued national property manager RPM Living in separate lawsuits, alleging the company mismanaged their investor-owned Section 8 properties and jeopardized HUD contracts, leading to $34 million in losses.
Promise unkept: Atlanta’s class action lawsuit over Forest Cove apartments

1 month ago | ajc.com | Matt Reynolds

At adramatic 2023news conference in Atlanta City Hall, former Forest Cove resident Felicia Morris, known as “Ms. Peaches,” stood alongside Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and civil rights attorney Ben Crump, sharing her experiences at the dilapidated apartment complex in southeast Atlanta where she lived for decades. Through tears she described years of living with rats, mildew, tainted tap water and crumbling walls. Over time, she said, residents’ cries for help went unanswered.
Autopsy report contradicts police narrative in Cornelius Taylor case

1 month ago | ajc.com | Matt Reynolds

The Fulton County Medical Examiner released Cornelius Taylor’s autopsy report Wednesday, finding blunt force trauma to his abdomen and pelvis and ruling his death was accidental. Taylor, a homeless man living in the Old Wheat Street encampment, died Jan. 16 after an Atlanta Department of Public Works construction vehicle struck him while clearing tents and other debris from the area.