When U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock– locked in a tight re-election race with Republican Herschel Walker– debated his opponent, the matter of his church trying to evict underprivileged tenants came up. The Democrat incumbent, the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, didn’t address the situation then and he’s certainly dodging the growing scandal now.
But first some background, originally exposed by the Washington Free Beacon and later reported on by InsiderAdvantage and other media outlets. Columbia Residential oversees Columbia Tower at MLK Village, a low-income apartment building owned by Ebenezer Baptist Church. After the debate when Warnock was asked about the efforts to evict tenants from the housing complex over small sums of unpaid rent, more news about those attempts have surfaced.
Out of 1,587 corporate landlords across the country, only 30 filed more eviction lawsuits in 2021 than Columbia Residential, records show. The property management company filed 605 eviction actions against its residents in 2021, according to a dataset cited by none other than U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, D-SC.
Warnock is now desperately trying to separate himself Columbia’s hard-nosed Atlanta eviction practices. He told reporters on Tuesday he has no involvement in day-to-day matters and claims that no evictions have been carried out at the apartment building. In fact, according to the Free Beacon, 15 eviction lawsuits have been filed against residents of the building since the start of the COVID-19 era, including one for just $28.55 in past-due rent. Fulton County marshals have carried out two court-ordered writs of possession at the property since 2020, and one resident in September accused the building overseers of changing his locks and temporarily kicking him out without notice.
Furthermore, Columbia Tower resident Phillip White told the Free Beacon he had to pay $325 in fees before Columbia Residential dropped its attempt to evict him in September 2021 for $179 in past due rent.
By the way, Ebenezer Baptist Church pays Warnock a salary and a $7,417 per-month, tax-free housing allowance. Columbia Residential founder and CEO Noel Khalil, who led the company until his death in October 2021, donated $14,000 to Warnock’s 2020 Senate campaign and runoff, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Finally, the Free Beacon also uncovered this news nugget: Warnock’s church owns 99 percent of Columbia Tower through a network of shell companies linked to a charity it controls which identifies Warnock as its principal officer. And the Georgia Secretary of State’s Securities and Charities Division launched an investigation into Ebenezer’s charity on Oct. 12, seeking to discover why it has been operating in the state without registering with state authorities.
“Raphael Warnock continues to dodge important questions Georgia voters need answers to,” says Walker campaign spokesman Will Kiley. “We have copies of the eviction notices. Raphael Warnock claims to be a pastor for the people, the disadvantaged, and the poor. But the actions he and his church have taken say otherwise.”
Warnock, Ebenezer Baptist Church, and Columbia Residential did not return requests for comment.
