As Georgia lawmakers wrapped up the 2026 legislative session under the Gold Dome, they closed the book on months of debate over the issues shaping life across the state. Taxes, education, health care and public safety all drew attention. But one issue that continues to loom over the Capitol — and over kitchen-table conversations far beyond it — is housing affordability.
That debate has produced a familiar villain. If you’ve spent any time scrolling through social media or watching the evening news lately, you’ve likely heard that institutional investors are to blame for the skyrocketing cost of housing in Georgia..
The narrative is simple and, for many, emotionally satisfying. We’re told that Wall Street hedge funds are swooping into neighborhoods from Gwinnett County to Glynn, outbidding hard-working families with all-cash offers and turning the American Dream into a permanent rental nightmare.
I’m not here to convince you this never happens, or that these companies are sympathetic figures. I would simply tell you that if housing affordability is one of your concerns, the “investor” issue is a distraction.
The math of the housing market is remarkably straightforward: Prices rise when demand outstrips supply. And in Georgia, the supply of housing isn’t being held back by investors. It’s being strangled by government regulation.
We break this down in this week’s commentary.
– Kyle Wingfield
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Georgia is one of many states that has recently begun to look critically at its growing regulatory code. Lawmakers, business leaders and policy advocates have pointed out how regulations enacted by unelected bureaucrats in the executive branch have placed an unnecessary burden on the state’s workers and industries.
When it comes to cancer, time is the ultimate currency for both doctors and patients. Yet here we are in the midst of another legislative debate on whether incumbent providers, primarily hospitals, should have a “competitor’s veto” over additional access to care – even for treating cancer.
For four decades, the American regulatory state operated under a convenient, if constitutionally dubious, doctrine: that when a federal law was “ambiguous,” the tie went to the regulators. Changing this practice would require Georgia courts to decide questions of law without defaulting to an agency’s preferred interpretation.
In the running debate over Georgia’s inflated housing prices, there are the usual suspects: high interest rates, the cost of building materials, Wall Street investors. But while Georgians seek to assign blame for why “starter homes” are increasingly unattainable, a lesser known culprit remains the cost of time.
Data centers have been an integral part of energy infrastructure for much longer than they’ve been a ubiquitous topic in public policy conversations. But the rapid advance of artificial intelligence over the last few years has meant increased demand for more data centers.
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The Georgia House of Representatives unanimously passed an amended version of the Georgia Early Literacy Act of 2026, sending the bill to Gov. Kemp for his signature. The Senate preserved funding for literacy coaches in all of the state’s elementary schools, but changed the funding mechanism from the Quality Basic Education formula to grants.
The Georgia House gave final approval to a bill Thursday that rounds in-person cash transactions to the nearest nickel. The change is a response to the Trump administration’s decision last year to stop making new pennies, which will lead to their gradual disappearance from circulation.
The Georgia state Senate unanimously passed a bill Monday to ban high schoolers from using cell phones and personal devices during the school day.House Bill 1009 effectively extends the existing state ban on the usage of personal devices for kindergarten, elementary school and middle school students, which Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law last year.
A lawsuit is challenging a series of state laws that restrict the practice of midwifery in Georgia, arguing that the state unfairly limits a sector of maternal health providers who could help improve access to care. The lawsuit highlights Georgia’s high maternal mortality rate, widespread provider shortages and racial disparities in health outcomes, and argues that Georgia’s current rules — which they say are among the strictest in the country — give doctors too much control over midwives’ ability to practice in the state.
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Foundation president Kyle Wingfield recently appeared on WDUN-AM, where he discussed education policy and the importance of expanding opportunity for students in Georgia.
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Now that the smoke has cleared from Georgia’s legislative session this year, it is worth stepping back from the daily scramble of headlines and votes to remember what this process represents. For most of human history, ordinary people had little say in how they were governed. Power was often distant, inherited, concentrated and difficult to challenge.
Modern legislative bodies are far from perfect, and anyone watching a legislative session unfold can see the frustrations clearly: delays, political theater, procedural fights and half-finished ideas. But viewed in historical perspective, there is something remarkable about a system in which laws are debated openly, competing interests are heard and public officials must justify their decisions.
A legislative session is not just a parade of bills. It is evidence of a deeper inheritance: the hard-won tradition of representative government, constitutional limits and peaceful civic disagreement. That tradition deserves both realism and gratitude. It reminds us that progress in public life is rarely dramatic or pure. More often, it comes through institutions that channel disagreement into debate and negotiation rather than coercion. However imperfect the process, that is no small achievement.