Community Q&A: How will you support housing for middle-income families and first-time buyers while limiting corporate landlords?
At our Turn Up the Volume Woodstock Town Hall on September 17, the conversation turned to one of the biggest challenges facing our city: housing. A neighbor asked:
Q: How will you support housing for middle-income families and first-time buyers while limiting corporate landlords?
A:
Right now, Woodstock has a housing imbalance. New development has tilted heavily toward higher-cost homes and luxury rentals, while the very people who keep our city running — teachers, firefighters, healthcare workers, young families — are finding it harder and harder to buy here. On top of that, corporate landlords and institutional investors are buying up single-family homes in metro Atlanta, including Cherokee County, which makes it even tougher for first-time buyers to compete.
Here’s how we can shift the balance:
Inclusive zoning. Woodstock’s own Housing Market Study recommends inclusionary zoning — requiring that a portion of new development be affordable to middle-income families. This usually works best when paired with tools like density bonuses, tax abatements, or state/federal housing funds, which make it financially feasible for builders without shifting the cost onto existing taxpayers.
Attainable housing requirements. Beyond inclusive zoning, the city can strengthen development agreements so that rezoning approvals come with clear commitments to provide units that middle-class families and first-time buyers can actually afford.
Ownership transparency. Tracking and publishing how much of Woodstock’s housing stock is owned by corporate investors versus local families would give the city and residents better tools for zoning, enforcement, and advocacy at the state level.
Community land trusts. A nonprofit land trust model would allow the land to remain in community ownership while homes are sold affordably, keeping housing permanently within reach for working families even as market prices rise. Woodstock has already discussed this approach; it deserves to move from conversation to pilot project.
Cherokee Regional Land Bank. The new regional land bank could become a critical tool for turning abandoned or tax-delinquent properties into attainable housing. Woodstock will have a seat at that table. The question is how we use it — whether to prioritize housing for local families and community spaces, or to accelerate high-end development.
Neighborhood protections. Limiting short-term rentals in certain zones and strengthening standards for absentee landlords can help keep neighborhoods stable and prevent corporate buyers from pushing out local families.
At the end of the day, the mayor can’t rewrite federal mortgage rules or ban corporate landlords outright. But the mayor can shape rezoning policy, use the platform to demand accountability, and make sure that local land and housing decisions serve Woodstock families first.
A city that only builds for outsiders isn’t building for its own people. Inclusive zoning means growth that protects Woodstock’s teachers, nurses, and first-time buyers.
