Following up on what @atl_transplant wrote, this is why I think it’s important to make a distinction between buyers and renters in the housing crisis we’re starting to face, and recognize that the displacement of renters, not homeowners, is the big source of the dumpster fire. Renters just don’t have the same market pressures and leverage that buyers get to take advantage of. If anything, the tenants could’ve gotten lucky if they were on month-to-month leases since state law says Trademark Residential could’ve legally given them just seven days to move out.
To repeat what Phil said:
People will talk about this in the context of race since, let’s face it, the United States is still far away from being a racially equal society -even if individual people may not feel that way. But it’s not like there’s evidence that Black people are the only people being kicked out of this apartment complex. After all, this is a problem of housing displacement (not necessarily gentrification); the race lens is just one of many contexts that have to inform a good solution.
As for what we could do about it? I’m not sure, but it’s possible to make it harder for things like this to happen if you paid attention to (and affected) local policies. For example, City Council could write an ordinance to require extended deadlines or other kinds of moving support for displaced low-income residents, though I’m not sure if they have the power to do that.
It doesn’t look like there are any rezoning cases around 1107 Garner Rd., for anyone who’s curious. iMaps just lists the owner of parcel 1703945164 as some person’s name instead of a company name.
Here’s the South Park thread if, like me, anyone thought “wait don’t we have a thread for this area alraedy?”