James November-December 2024 web - Flipbook - Page 33
JAMES RECENTLY INTERVIEWED
JON NIXON, THE INCOMING 2025
CHAIRMAN OF THE ATLANTA
APARTMENT ASSOCIATION ABOUT
THE CURRENT STATE OF GEORGIA’S
APARTMENT INDUSTRY. NIXON
IS ALSO THE EXECUTIVE VICE
PRESIDENT OF ASSET LIVING.
Tell us about your company
and Georgia’s rental housing industry.
JAMES
Asset Living is a third-party property management firm, representing more than 300,000 apartment
homes across the country. In Georgia we have over 55,000 apartment
units. Our mission is to foster community and drive a positive impact
that reflects our belief that everyone
deserves a place to call home. We
manage a combination of market rate
and affordable housing units.
Georgia’s apartment industry contributes over $4.1 billion to our local
economy each year, including $1.4
billion in property taxes. Most professional apartment housing providers
belong to the Georgia Apartment
Association, and our members provide
more than 650,000 apartment homes
to 1.1 million Georgians.
JON NIXON
What are some of the challenges that your industry is facing today?
JAMES
The biggest challenge we’re
facing in Georgia today is continued
lawsuit abuse and the resulting insurance crisis.
NIXON
The laws that govern Georgia’s
courts currently support increasingly
lucrative and far-reaching premises
liability lawsuits. Because of this,
housing providers are having difficulty
securing premises liability insurance
coverage and when it is available, the
policies often include exclusions that
limit coverage and premiums are astronomically higher than what we see in
other states.
This inability to access liability insurance serves as a barrier to
investment in housing. This impacts
existing housing that may not be able
to retain professional management
services or owners that are forced to
sell due to insurance providers not
renewing policies with or without
a lawsuit. It also impacts new housing by which projects cannot move
forward in the development process
without liability insurance.
The other big challenge we have is
the eviction process delays that never
stabilized after the government shutdowns in 2020. It still takes six months
or more for property owners in much
of metro Atlanta to remove bad actors
from their properties whether they are
creating a dangerous environment on
the property or have failed to pay rent.
Various industries have touted
tort reform as an answer to issues with
insurance and liability. How would tort
reform make a difference for housing
providers?
JAMES
Addressing the rising cost
and availability of liability insurance
through meaningful tort reform at the
Georgia legislature is the top priority
for our industry.
Housing providers, along with
much of the state’s business community, are simply seeking basic guardrails
on the extent to which a property can
be held liable for unanticipated circumstances beyond their control. Too often
properties are held liable for unforeseen situations involving non-residents
NIXON
N OV EM B E R /D EC E M BER 2024
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