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“If a city government declines to do its job, we’re going to hit that local government in the wallet and put the cash back in the hands of the homeowner who have actually been hurt,” Gaines, who is running for Congress, said on the House flooring.
Rep. Clint Crowe, a Jackson Republican politician who chaired your home Public Security and Homeland Security Committee, stated the measure is “not a blank check” for lawsuits.
“What it does is it produces a civil treatment for property owners when (a) city government officially adopts a policy of non-enforcement, when that policy triggers recorded monetary harm … The local government has 1 month to act. If it refuses, the owner might look for relief in the courts. That is the procedure. It is determined. It is recorded. It is not a blank check. It is a backstop,” Crowe said.
Damages would be topped at the quantity of property taxes paid in the prior year, restricting worst‑case direct exposure however potentially multiplying claims throughout communities where encampments or criminal offense clusters are focused around rental real estate or small‑balance commercial possessions.
Homelessness pressures and mortgage‑market implications
The argument came as homelessness reached a record 771,480 people across the country on a single night in 2024, according to HUD’s Annual Homeless Assessment Report, even as Georgia’s own count revealed about 12,290 individuals statewide.