By Michael Davis, Atlanta BeltLine Partnership Deputy Executive Director
My fondest childhood memories are rooted in experiences in my family home. It was a familiar, safe place where I felt connected and belonged. Growing up in south Dekalb, home meant holidays, Sunday dinners, and everyone playing sports in our front yard. My mother lives there today, and it remains a refuge where family and friends gather and celebrate.
I became a legacy homeowner in 1995 when I purchased by first home in southwest Atlanta. Like the generation before me, I am striving to create a sense of place and well-being for my own daughter.
Stable homeownership matters
Most Americans still view homeownership as a crucial part of the American dream. However, we are amid a national housing affordability crisis where many can’t afford to buy a home. Further, legacy homeowners nationwide with modest-level and fixed incomes in gentrifying neighborhoods face challenges of staying in their “forever home” due to soaring residential property taxes.
The security of owning the place you live unlocks opportunities for many aspects of our lives, which include employment, education, health care, and retirement savings. Strong families are characteristic of vibrant and robust neighborhoods, which play an essential role in family, work, community, and civic life.
Property ownership can build generational wealth
Playwright August Wilson once said, “Land [is] the only thing God ain’t making no more of.” Homeownership is a crucial wealth-building tool for communities and households of color that can narrow the racial wealth gap.
For many Americans, the home is still the largest, most significant investment made in their lifetime. According to Forbes, household wealth is 1,469% higher on average for homeowners compared to renters, excluding home equity.”
Black homeownership in Atlanta jumped by 4.6% from 2019 to 2021. The increase could be “an early sign” that programs designed to make homeownership more accessible like down payment assistance are “starting to make a mark,” said Nicole Bachaud, a senior economist at Zillow.
But it comes with challenges. The census bureau indicates that at the end of 2020, the homeownership rate for black families was 44% compared to 75% for white families. The COVID pandemic fallout disproportionately impacted people of color, and the expectation is that the gap will widen.
The impact of property taxes is intensified in rapidly redeveloping areas
Property taxes are one of the highest annual homeowner costs. Residential property taxes are regressive, requiring modest-income people to pay a higher portion of their income in taxes than those who are wealthier. Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s 2018 Who Pays? report found that nationwide, the poorest 20% of taxpayers paid 4.2% of their income in property taxes, compared to 3% for middle-income taxpayers and 1.7% for the wealthiest 1% of households.
In areas where residential home values are rapidly increasing, the regressive impact of residential property taxes is intensified, particularly for homeowners who purchased their homes decades ago in now gentrifying neighborhoods.
Helping BeltLine residents stay in their homes
The Legacy Resident Retention Program (LRRP) was launched in October 2020 to assist long-time homeowners in the Atlanta BeltLine’s four equity priority areas where the risk of displacement was greatest. The program helps residents stay in their homes by paying property tax increases through the 2030 tax year.
Every year LRRP pays the Fulton County Tax Assessor the amount of the property tax that has increased beyond each participant’s 2019 property tax amount. The program operates as a grant and does not need to be paid back.
We are incredibly grateful for our generous supporters Robert W. Woodruff Foundation, Georgia Power, Bank of America Neighborhood Builders, Rocket Community Fund, Tull Charitable Foundation, and Kaiser Permanente. And we are welcoming continued philanthropic engagement.
LRRP Homeowner Resident Participant Profile
| Average Age | 63 |
| Average Income | $35,900 |
| Average Household size | 1.78 |
| Average Years of Home Residency | 24 |
| Average Home Value | $264.453 |
Though the LRRP program is open to any age homeowner, the average participant age is 63. Most of the residents’ income (93%) is below 80% of area median income (AMI). This is equivalent to $54,000 for a one-person household and $77,120 for a four-person household (based upon 2022 US HUD Metro Atlanta AMI). The average number of people living in these homes is 1.78, and they have lived in their homes an average of 24 years. The average participant home value is $264,453.
LRRP Homeowner Resident FMV and Tax Assessment Projections*
| Average LRRP Participant’s Home Purchase Price | $112,912.48 |
| Average Home Fair Market Value (2019) | $162,291.51 |
| Average Home Tax Assessment Value (2019) | $64,916.60 |
| Average Home Fair Market Value Projection (2030) | $491,558.27 |
| Average Home Tax Assessment Projection (2030) | $196,823.31 |
| Average Home Fair Market Value (2019-2030) | +202.88% |
*Values are from a baseline of 2019 with projections to 2030.
Policy reform is the long-term solution
The long-term solution for managing property tax increases due to rapidly increasing property values is not philanthropy. Donations are not the means to maintain our historic communities.
One possibility is if a family in a gentrifying area sees their property tax bill surge to an unaffordable level, a circuit breaker credit kicks in to offer relief. This targeted approach assists fixed-income, low- and middle-income families without significantly reducing overall tax revenue.
Residential property tax policy enacted and implemented at the state and city level can provide permanent relief for families whose property taxes surpass a certain percentage of their income.
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