Senate Democrats are gearing up to resume their longshot bid to repeal Georgia’s decades-old ban on rent regulation when state lawmakers reconvene under the Gold Dome in less than four months.

State Sen. Donzella James, D-Atlanta, proposed Senate Bill 125 last February to do away with a 1984 law that bans Georgia counties and municipalities from enacting any measures to regulate rents.

The bill stalled in March without a vote in either the Georgia House or Senate, locked out by a Republican-controlled legislature that historically has had little appetite for progressive housing policies. What’s more, a sizeable percentage of Georgia lawmakers are landlords.

In the upcoming General Assembly, James intends to hammer home the idea that the state’s affordable housing crisis is nonpartisan and affects all Georgians, she said at a Sept. 14 meeting of the Senate’s Urban Affairs Committee. James chairs the Democrat-led committee.

“We’re going to make sure that we look at this not only as a problem throughout Georgia, but also throughout the nation,” James said. ”Without a cap placed on rent, costs skyrocket.” 

“We are attempting to lift the ban so that municipalities and counties can be able to take care of their residents,” she added.

Affordable housing advocates told the Urban Affairs committee that capping rent prices or limiting rent increases could prevent price gouging, stem evictions, and allow more people to secure stable housing.

But lobbyists for landlords claimed any rent stabilization statutes would sink property values, decimate housing quality and stifle tax-generating development.

The committee also heard from a number of low-income renters and their family members, who shared stories of landlords doubling—or even tripling—rent when their leases expired.

Jodie Willliams said her daughter, an Emory University student, now lives with five roommates. She and her roommates opted to pack their house…