Tyler Perry is cementing his film legacy with his Atlanta studio, but he won’t do it at the expense of people losing their homes. The director is covering $2.75 million in tax-related expenses for low-income seniors in the Atlanta area, including those living near his 330-acre Tyler Perry Studios.
“So…I knew that the success of my studio would affect all the property values around it,” Tyler Perry in an Instagram post. “But make no mistake, the seniors on fixed incomes around the studio will not lose their homes because of past due or rising taxes…no sir!! We ain’t do that to our legacy.”
Perry partnered with Atlanta Mayor Andrew Dickens to prevent home and community loss by providing assistance to seniors who couldn’t pay their taxes. The filmmaker thanked the mayor and Invest Atlanta Partnership for “caring about our folks.”
A statement from the mayor’s office said:
“Atlanta’s growth and prosperity should not come at the expense of our legacy residents– many of whom have been priced out of their homes in previous years. Tyler Perry has been engaged in our ongoing conversations around legacy resident retention., and he told me he wanted to do something to support these efforts. Thanks to his generosity, more Atlantans will be able to remain in the communities they built.”
He also thanked Invest Atlanta, which will be administering the money. Atlanta Journal-Constitution describes it as the nonprofit wing of the city’s economic development department.
Here’s the plan so far. Tyler is paying back property taxes for 300 seniors, including city, county, and school taxes. He’s also looking out for the future. AJC reports that Perry will cover tax increases for at least 100 seniors for the next 20 years.
He reportedly already donated $750,000 for the back taxes and tax jumps. For the next four years, Tyler will also pay $500,000 to cover the types of taxes mentioned.
News of his latest round of generosity comes on the heels of Forbes listing him as a billionaire bachelor with a $1 billion net worth. He’s also stacked with projects. Within months of his Netflix film A Jazzman’s Blues, he’s been on set for his next film Triple 8. His next Netflix drop is about the only all-black female battalion in World War II.
