MACON, Ga. — Buying or renting a home has been hard for families. The Middle Georgia Association of Realtors wants to figure out solutions.
13WMAZ went to a housing summit in Macon and talked with real estate agents and brokers about what they're seeing in the housing market.
They all want what's best for their clients.
“Teachers, people who work at factories, people who are young families just starting out, or even people who have retired and want to downsize, it's hard to find them a home,” Chrissy Donovan said.
Donovan is an associate broker at Middle Georgia Realty in Monroe County. She came to the housing summit to hear how Central Georgia leaders, like Monroe County commissioner George Emami, plans to improve housing.
"I want to say it was unanimous that we decided to not have a minimum square footage placed into our code,” Emami said.
It's something unusual and this would make it easier to build a house but they still must follow the states square footage code.
Emami even met with the Georgia Manufactured Housing Association to talk about other types of homes.
"And sort of negotiated in and worked with them on things that would be allowed versus not allowed in our county, that are related to mobile homes, to try to make it a little more friendly,” he said.
In Macon, Mayor Lester Miller wants to diversify who can get a home whether it be workforce housing or middle class housing
“Folks that may be making $20k or less, or $26k or less, or $50k, depending on what they have there, but you shouldn't live in a different type of a home based on just affordability,” he said.
Donovan hopes they can continue to find easy ways to help buyers find their forever home.
“Whether it be renting or buying or purchasing that piece of land, how can we work together to make their dream a reality for them," she said.
In Georgia, the minimum wage is currently $7.25. There are more than 1.3 million renter households in the state: that's about 36 %.
In Macon-Bibb County, the average hourly wage necessary to afford a 2-bedroom house is $16.27; that's without spending more than 30% of your income.