Housing
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Athens Leaders Weigh High-Performance Construction Against Housing Shortage
In Athens-Clarke County, the push toward a 100% clean energy by 2035 is colliding with a stubborn housing shortage. For the people working to solve both problems, the tension is constant. Melinda Lord, director of Housing and Community Development for Athens-Clarke County, doesn’t hesitate when asked whether affordable housing and…
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More Than a House, It’s Their Story: The Rossesters and Their Historic Home
This story follows an elderly couple in Eatonton, Georgia, and the home they’ve spent years building a life in together. What started as a simple photo assignment turned into something much more personal as I spent time with them, listening to their stories and seeing how much history lives within…
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Map of Community That was Taken; Researchers’ Search for Residents Who Lived It
When Claire Hagan first began her work as a mayoral fellow for Athens Mayor Kelly Girtz, she never imagined how much work she would pour into the R-51 urban renewal project “I mean, where I picked it up, it was in the very, very early stages of research,” Hagan…
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Q&As Provide Look Into Lives of Public Representatives, Servants
Reporting I students each semester learn more about their beats — a special topic area of focus — by conducting research and interviews with community and student leaders, entrepreneurs, musicians, professors, performers and others. The nearly 80 students in the course conducted an interview on their beat in September. This…
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Linnentown Descendants Still Wait for Apology from the University of Georgia
ixty years later, Christine Davis Johnson still remembers how the city would send tractors at 1 a.m. to push dirt into walls encircling her house in Linnentown. A historically Black Athens neighborhood, Linnentown was destroyed by urban renewal in the 1960s to make way for University of Georgia dormitories. “The…
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Historic Athens Program Repairs Houses to Make Reparations
Donna Archibald was born and raised in Athens, but when she needed to replace her roof, she found her ability to stay in her home threatened. “I would have had to struggle and pay for it myself because my insurance company turned me down,” Archibald said. “If I had to…
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Q&As Reveal Community’s Sense of Hope, Worries for 2025 and Beyond
Reporting I students set out to learn more about Athens-Clarke County and their beats — business and consumer news, city-county government, diversity, local music, sustainability — by conducting research and interviews with business owners, community officials, advocates, musicians and students. The nearly 180 students in the course, which consists of…
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Jackson County Seniors Advocate for Property Tax Cuts with 3 Items on Nov. 5 Ballot
Some Jackson County senior citizens are pushing for tax relief following a three-year effort by residents out of the Cresswind Community. Three bills on the ballot Nov. 5 could reduce the amount of property taxes seniors would have to pay in coming years. HB 1003, HB 1004 and HB 1461…
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Mayor Girtz Proposes $1 Million for Affordable Housing, Promotes Future Land Use Plan
Athens’ population is expected to increase by about 30,000 residents over the next 20 years, which includes the students expected to enroll in UGA’s forthcoming School of Medicine. The Athens-Clarke County Commission and Mayor Kelly Girtz are working on a Future Land Use Plan that will help determine zoning and…
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Athens Considers Next Steps After Closure of First Step Encampment
First Step, a government-sanctioned homeless encampment that opened in early 2022, will close on Dec. 31 of this year. Athens-Clarke County government is closing the encampment while it looks to find a more permanent solution to homelessness. As a result of the closure, unhoused individuals cannot stay at the encampment…