Are we on the right path as a city? What are your thoughts as the reader? Be sure to follow Muscogee Muckraker on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to see our upcoming stories as they break throughout the coming week.
From doubled apartment rent and evictions coinciding with a significant population decrease, to a 23 year decline in the city’s employment rate, and even a city councilor saying she believes $1,400 rent is ‘affordable’ for her constituents, here’s your weekend look at all the muck that’s fit to print from the Columbus, Georgia area, along with a look at what to expect in the week ahead.
DOUBLED RENT & EVICTIONS
The cost of rent for studio apartments in the Fountain City has absolutely skyrocketed in the last two years, as the number of evictions in the city doubled and the city’s population declined over the same time period.
We analyzed and charted eight years of median rent data in Columbus, by month, organized by apartment size. We then cross-referenced that data with the city’s rate of evictions and its total population.
From 2015 to 2020, the median cost of rent for a studio apartment in Columbus bounced around roughly the $700-$800 range. Those rents then skyrocketed from 2020-2023, causing the median rent for a studio apartment in Columbus to spike to an astronomical $1300 per month.
As the rent of studio apartments began to skyrocket, evictions shot up as well. Last year, in 2022, a total of 1,202 Columbus renters were evicted from their homes. Before studio rent began increasing, the number of evictions in Columbus was just 668 in 2020.
The city’s recent population decline also correlates with its increased evictions and skyrocketing studio apartment rent. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Columbus had a total of 206,922 residents in 2020. By 2021, that number had decreased to 205,617; a decrease of 1,305 people, or 0.63%.
Explore the full story to see the data visualizations and learn more about the underlying connections.
EMPLOYMENT DECLINED FOR 23 YEARS
The number of gainfully-employed people in the Columbus metropolitan statistical area (MSA) has fallen for the past 23 years, according to data from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), as compiled by FRED: Federal Reserve Economic Data.
The Columbus MSA is the area defined by the U.S. Census Bureau to be economically anchored to the Columbus area.
In Dec. 1999, Columbus had an employment rate of 44.77% with 126,321 gainfully-employed residents out of its total population of 282,164.
That rate was the highest the city has since seen.
From its peak in Dec. 1999, the Columbus employment rate steadily declined within a visually-recognizable trend pattern for the next 23 years through to the present day.
By Jan. 2021 — the most recent data published — Columbus’ employment rate had steadily dwindled down to a lowly 35.47%. Only 116,173 people were gainfully employed out of the total population of 327,536.
Even with a significantly-higher population in 2021, there were fewer employed people in the city than there were in 1999.
When compared to the rest of the nation, the Columbus MSA’s current employment rate remains dreadfully lower than that of the U.S. as a whole.
While many officials and local news outlets like to focus on the unemployment rate, doing so paints a very skewed picture of the actual rate of employment in the Fountain City.
Explore the full story to check out the charted data for yourself and learn more about what it means for Columbus.
‘RENT CONTROL’ WILL ECONOMICALLY RUIN COLUMBUS
The topic of ‘rent control’ has recently been raised several times by city officials, leaving many economically-minded Columbusites starkly concerned for the city’s future.
The notion of implementing it here in Columbus raises questions of the competency and experience of those who are elected or appointed to lead the city.
It is not a partisan issue. It is a mathematics and economics issue.
By converting and constructing high-end loft apartments that rent for upwards of $1,500 per month in hopes of engineering an aMaZiNg Pollyanna of a gleaming river city, they have created a price floor — the opposite of a price ceiling — which also plays with the same proverbial fire of the supply-and-demand curve that rent control does. It is effectively the polar opposite of rent control, which circularly produces similar effects thereof. We are now experiencing those effects, as the cost of rent has gone up while evictions doubled alongside it.
Instead of realizing that the city’s overdevelopment efforts have simply outpaced demand, officials appear to have reprieved themselves of responsibility by suggesting the band-aid symptom-treating farce of rent control; it would quickly cause even more severe side effects that would perpetuate the city’s growing economic divide just as overdevelopment has.
Explore the full story to see the hard science behind why rent control is only capable of mathematically condemning Columbus to a future of severe economic depression.
COUNCILWOMAN TUCKER SAYS $1,400 RENT IS ‘AFFORDABLE’
We’re not sure what planet city councilwoman Toyia Tucker is living on, but Tucker claims that families making just $30k per adult can somehow afford $1,400 monthly rent. The comment serves as a prime example of how insanely disconnected the councilwoman is from the realities of how her constituents’ household budgets work.
“I really would say,” Tucker said, “that a family of two, you know, adults and kids (implying at least four people) could afford eleven-hundred dollars, or fourteen-hundred dollars, depending on, you know, a thirty-thousand per person income.”
In response, and on behalf of very hard-working Columbus families throughout the city, we at the Muckraker compiled a set of two different monthly budgets to help the councilwoman and her colleagues understand how insanely out-of-touch Tucker’s comment — and her underlying thought process — really is.
Tucker’s comment was provided during a ‘bus tour’ taken by city officials throughout Columbus to see how officials can best serve the individual needs of a group of local real estate developers who were hand-picked by the office of deputy city manager Pam Hodge. Hodge is next-in-command as the city’s vice-chief employee after city manager Isaiah Hugley.
Unfortunately, Tucker can’t seem to wrap her head around why $1,400 rent isn’t affordable for a family of four earning $60k per year, so we aren’t frankly too surprised that she can’t seem to grasp the basic economic concepts of supply and demand that render rent control as a farce.
Explore the full story to see how your expenses stack up to Tucker’s insane economic expectations of your income.
HOMETOWN HOTDOG HERO HELPS HOMELESS
For years, Frank’s Alley owner Ross Horner has been letting his actions speak louder than the words of most when it comes to making a difference in his community. Now, Ross has launched a new campaign to help connect those in need with the right services that can help give them a hand up.
While Frank’s Alley (and Ross) are known for their rather hilarious “dad joke” marketing, this one’s no laughing matter. Homelessness in the Columbus area increased by an astronomical 13.58% last year alone.
Upon walking into Frank's Alley at 1246 Broadway, patrons will notice a new coin-operated gumball machine complete with Frank’s signature NYC-style cardboard signage — and you should definitely put some coinage in it.
The machine has been retrofitted into a “donation machine,” with all proceeds being directly donated to Home For Good: an organization that connects those experiencing homelessness with the services and opportunities they may desperately need.
Explore the full story to see why you should go visit Ross at Frank’s Alley and put a full roll of quarters in that gumball machine.
HEY LOWE: FIX YOUR TERRIBLE MARKETING
Classes have begun for the city’s new GED and job training courses at the Phenix City-Russell County Library through a partnership with Chattahoochee Valley Community College, though marketing efforts for the program have been practically non-existent.
We at the Muckraker foresaw the inevitability of the program’s marketing problem back in November of last year when the program was first announced:
“The program’s success lies in raising awareness. People can only reap the benefits of these classes if they know about them. Like many city-sponsored programs, that awareness rests on marketing: a terrible pitfall of most municipalities,” we published in Nov. of last year.
The city has thought it best to advertise GED coursework through a single social media post made through the library’s Facebook page — as if that’s where people in need of a GED are going to see and connect with the advertised information. We’d call that a solid fail.
Additionally, the single Facebook post consisted of a photograph of a corrugated lawn sign.
Explore the full story to see how Mayor Lowe & Co. can very easily fix this abominable marketing problem and actually help residents better themselves while increasing the city’s workforce.
THE WEEK AHEAD
If you haven’t noticed, there has been much ado about the Columbus Police Department, particularly circling around Chief Freddie Blackmon. For now, let’s just leave it at that.
The Columbus city council met last Tuesday, Jan. 31 at 9:00 a.m. You can watch the meeting through the city’s YouTube channel and view the meeting’s agenda here.
Are we on the right path as a city? What are your thoughts as the reader?
Be sure to follow Muscogee Muckraker on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to see our upcoming stories as they break throughout the coming week.
Ask the hard questions. Fix the hard answers. Rake the muck.
Facts are stubborn things — and we’ll keep publishing them, whether city officials like them or not.
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