ICYMI: Warnock’s Church Issued Three More Evictions Last Week
On Tuesday, October 18,, the Washington Free Beacon released another report on Raphael Warnock's secret low-income housing in Atlanta, this time showing that just last week, Warnock's church filed three more evictions. Georgia Democratic senator Raphael Warnock forcefully denied the charge that his church is trying to evict chronically homeless tenants, telling Georgia voters on Friday that those are 'false charges' and an attempt to 'sully Ebenezer Baptist Church.' But just two days earlier, the apartment complex owned by his church filed eviction proceedings against three additional residents, with the goal of ousting tenants who owed as little as $115 in past-due rent. Columbia Tower at MLK Village filed removal proceedings against three tenants on Oct. 12, one day after the Washington Free Beacon broke the news that the church-owned building had filed a dozen eviction lawsuits against residents of the building since the start of the pandemic.
Residents told the Free Beacon that Columbia Residential, the building’s administrators, has become more aggressive in its rent collection policies, and sent out a notice in September saying it would no longer accept late fees and would start removal proceedings after five days of non-payment.
'If you don’t pay your rent by the fifth, a dispossessory notice comes out that week,' a resident told a Free Beacon reporter who visited the building in October. 'They won’t accept the payment after the fifth.' The latest evictions involved tenants who were just days late paying their October rent, and owed as little as $115, according to Fulton County Magistrate Court records filed by Columbia Tower.
'Raphael Warnock needs to honestly answer for the actions his church is taking,' said campaign spokesman Will Kiley. 'Warnock's church oversees Columbia Tower and as senior pastor, he is heavily involved in the operations of the church. Warnock is involved enough in his church to get a salary and a housing allowance, but he isn't involved in these eviction notices? It's time for Raphael Warnock to man up, tell the truth, and take responsibility for his actions for once.'
