--- title: HR 656. House Study Committee on Expanding Home Ownership Opportunities for Georgians; create collection: bills id: 2025-2026/hr656 cite_as: HR 656, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr656 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr656.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr656/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/71497 date: 2026-03-03 status: introduced corpus_version: bills-2026-09-13 license: Public record of the Georgia General Assembly, via LegiScan; see about.md publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice. up: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026.md previous: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr655.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr657.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md omitted: votes and history omitted_chars: 199 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr656.md?full=1 bill_number: HR 656 session: 2025-2026 Regular Session session_slug: 2025-2026 chamber: House bill_type: resolution status_date: 2025-03-20 last_action: House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute sponsors: - Phil Olaleye - Victor Anderson - Mary Oliver - Bruce Williamson - Carolyn Hugley text_version: Comm Sub has_text: true legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/HR656/2025 upstream_id: 2012237 summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 topic_tags: - housing affordability - home ownership - institutional investors - legislative study committees - Georgia real estate --- # HR 656. House Study Committee on Expanding Home Ownership Opportunities for Georgians; create ## Text The House Committee on Rural Development offers the following substitute to HR 656: A RESOLUTION Creating the House Study Committee on Expanding Home Ownership Opportunities for Georgians; and for other purposes. WHEREAS, the Georgia General Assembly affirmed by law that "housing is an issue of paramount concern to this state which affects the health, welfare, and safety of the citizens of this state and the economic viability and planned growth of its communities"; and WHEREAS, Georgia is currently ranked as the most at risk state in the nation for housing market disruptions, rental increases, and unsafe conditions from private equity investment in housing; and WHEREAS, three corporate landlords own over 19,000 homes in the metro Atlanta area, constituting nearly 11 percent of the single family homes available for rent in Fulton, Clayton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, and Cobb counties; and WHEREAS, institutional investors are increasingly expanding into suburban, rural, and coastal counties, such as Barrow, Bartow, Bryan, Carroll, Columbia, Effingham, Hall, Paulding, and Walton counties; and WHEREAS, out-of-state institutional investors own 30 percent of all single family rental properties in Atlanta; and WHEREAS, home ownership has historically been a key source of wealth and stability for middle class families; and WHEREAS, the median home price in Georgia rose from approximately $132,000.00 in 2013 to over $320,000.00 in 2023 and $360,000.00 in 2025; and WHEREAS, increasing institutional ownership of single family homes will continue to put the goal of home ownership further and further out of reach for Georgians; and WHEREAS, a study is needed to evaluate the current housing stock and expand home ownership opportunities for Georgians. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: (1) Creation of House study committee. There is created the House Study Committee on Expanding Home Ownership Opportunities for Georgians. (2) Members and officers. The committee shall be composed of seven members of the House of Representatives to be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The Speaker shall designate a member of the committee as chairperson of the committee. (3) Powers and duties. The committee shall undertake a study of the conditions, needs, issues, and problems mentioned above or related thereto and recommend any action or legislation which the committee deems necessary or appropriate. (4) Meetings. The chairperson shall call all meetings of the committee. The committee may conduct such meetings at such places and at such times as it may deem necessary or convenient to enable it to exercise fully and effectively its powers, perform its duties, and accomplish the objectives and purposes of this resolution. (5) Allowances and funding. (A) The legislative members of the committee shall receive the allowances provided for in Code Section 28-1-8 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated. (B) The allowances authorized by this resolution shall not be received by any member of the committee for more than five days unless additional days are authorized. Funds necessary to carry out the provisions of this resolution shall come from funds appropriated to the House of Representatives. (6) Report. (A) In the event the committee adopts any specific findings or recommendations that include suggestions for proposed legislation, the chairperson shall file a report of the same prior to the date of abolishment specified in this resolution, subject to subparagraph (C) of this paragraph. (B) In the event the committee adopts a report that does not include suggestions for proposed legislation, the chairperson shall file the report, subject to subparagraph (C) of this paragraph. (C) No report shall be filed unless the same has been approved prior to the date of abolishment specified in this resolution by majority vote of a quorum of the committee. A report so approved shall be signed by the chairperson of the committee and filed with the Clerk of the House of Representatives. (D) In the absence of an approved report, the chairperson may file with the Clerk of the House of Representatives a copy of the minutes of the meetings of the committee in lieu thereof. (7) Abolishment. The committee shall stand abolished on December 1, 2026. ## Summaries written by Georgia Commons The following was written by claude-sonnet-5 from the text above and is not part of the resolution. Quote the text, not the summary. A House resolution would create a seven-member study committee to examine institutional investment in Georgia housing and look for ways to expand home ownership opportunities for Georgians. ### Plain-language summary This resolution does not change any Georgia law directly. Instead, it creates the House Study Committee on Expanding Home Ownership Opportunities for Georgians, made up of seven House members appointed by the Speaker, who also names the chairperson. The committee would study conditions related to housing affordability and institutional ownership of homes, including concerns raised in the resolution's preamble about corporate landlords owning large numbers of single family homes in metro Atlanta and expanding into rural and suburban counties. The committee can recommend legislation. Members get standard legislative allowances under O.C.G.A. § 28-1-8 for up to five meeting days unless more are approved, funded through the House's existing budget. The committee must file a report with the Clerk of the House if it approves one, and it is set to be abolished on December 1, 2026. ### What it does - Creates a seven-member House Study Committee on Expanding Home Ownership Opportunities for Georgians, with members appointed by the Speaker of the House. - Directs the committee to study housing conditions, including institutional and corporate ownership of single family homes, and recommend legislation if needed. - Sets legislative allowances for committee members under O.C.G.A. § 28-1-8, capped at five days unless additional days are authorized, funded through the House's budget. - Requires any approved findings or recommendations to be filed as a report with the Clerk of the House before the committee is abolished. - Abolishes the committee automatically on December 1, 2026, ending its work unless further action is taken. ### Who it affects The resolution directly affects the seven House members appointed to the study committee and the Speaker of the House, who makes those appointments. Indirectly, its subject matter concerns Georgia homebuyers, renters, and communities affected by institutional or corporate ownership of single family homes. ### Why it matters The resolution itself creates no new housing rules; it sets up a committee to study rising home prices and growing corporate ownership of rental homes in Georgia. Any concrete change to housing law would depend on legislation the committee recommends after its study concludes by December 2026. ### Key provisions - Paragraph (1) creates the House Study Committee on Expanding Home Ownership Opportunities for Georgians. - Paragraph (2) sets committee membership at seven House members appointed by the Speaker, who also designates the chairperson. - Paragraph (3) directs the committee to study housing conditions and recommend action or legislation it finds necessary. - Paragraph (5) sets member allowances under O.C.G.A. § 28-1-8, limited to five days of pay unless additional days are authorized, funded from House appropriations. - Paragraph (6) requires committee reports with legislative recommendations to be approved by majority vote and filed with the Clerk of the House before abolishment. - Paragraph (7) abolishes the committee on December 1, 2026. ## Status - Status: Introduced (2025-03-20) - Last action: House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (2026-03-03) - Sponsors: Phil Olaleye, Victor Anderson, Mary Oliver, Bruce Williamson, Carolyn Hugley - Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/71497 > The history, votes, and amendments (199 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr656.md?full=1