ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - The Albany Housing Authority announced it will freeze rent and halt all evictions for December and January, affecting over 2,000 residents.

The housing authority will not collect rent during those two months. Residents who are behind on rent will have time to catch up.

The decision comes in response to the government shutdown. Even though the shutdown is over, officials want people to be able to recover after losing benefits.

Across the community, residents found themselves struggling amidst the prolonged government shutdown. Their fears deepened as the holidays got closer.

However, for resident Benjaman Holstey, he was more concerned with the present as his daily routine was interrupted.

“I didn’t have groceries, I didn’t have transportation, it affected me in more than one way,” Holstey said.

Albany Housing Authority CEO Dr. William Myles said this is the least he can do after everything that has occurred in the last 40 days.

“We understand the holiday season is coming up. We understand that there are a lot of life decisions that are going to be made here shortly, and we want to make sure we don’t impact them as much as the actual government shutdown has already impacted our residents. Our job is to make life a little bit easier for those who are living with us,” Myles said.

Properties affected by rent freeze

The rent freeze and eviction moratorium apply to all Albany Housing Authority properties, including:

• Holley Homes
• William Binns
• Malone Towers (elderly and disabled housing)
• Seay Village North
• Seay Village South
• Grover Cross (Tift)
• Dennis Homes
• Holman Homes (elderly and disabled housing)
• Sherman Oaks
• Kingsbury
• Grover Cross (Colquitt)
• Lane Landings
• Brierwood
• Wetherbee
• Lipsey Homes
• Pate Homes
• Albany Gardens
• Arcadia Commons
• Arcadia Courtsideapply

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