Atlanta’s latest effort to create affordable housing is underway in Carey Park, a Northwest neighborhood the city plans to rezone to a classification intended to promote development of houses for those with low to moderate incomes.
Tag: Affordable housing
At first state of the city speech, Atlanta mayor strikes tone of togetherness
Atlanta’s a growing city, the crown jewel of the nation, declared Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in a major speech on Wednesday. But she said it’s going to to need to draw on a spirit of inclusiveness and cooperation to help residents, communities and businesses that are being left behind.
Judge deals Atlanta Housing a setback in fight over land deal
A Fulton County Superior Court judge has handed a setback to Atlanta’s housing authority in its court bid to stop a sale of its land at below-market prices.
Dearth of affordable housing calls for comprehensive solution
By Guest Columnist KATHLEEN FARRELL, head of commercial real estate at SunTrust Banks, Inc.
Over the last decade, as millennials entered the workforce and delayed or indefinitely avoided buying a home, apartment complexes sprang up across Atlanta – as they did in many U.S. cities – to meet the growing demand for rental housing. Many of these new developments were built as luxury living experiences in order to command higher rents and meet the expectations of a younger clientele. The result was a robust supply of high-end units that have been absorbed by Atlanta’s strong job market, but a dearth of affordable, workforce housing.
Vine City affordable housing for seniors brings together church, city, community
A big yellow excavator at Spencer and Walnut streets in Vine City was still on Friday morning — but just for a while, so folks could enjoy a ceremony to mark the groundbreaking for an apartment being built there so that seniors can afford it.
Atlanta’s asking advice on their big mixed-income redo at Civic Center
Atlanta plans to rebuild 19 acres at the Civic Center as a mixed-use, mixed income-development. Some folks who came to a city meeting about it are saying they’re looking for walkability, connections to the rest of the city, and preserving the buildings that are on the site.
Atlanta agency votes for Vine City mixed-income build
Atlanta’s development agency has voted to sell the city’s housing authority 7.8 acres of land in Vine City for a $60 million mixed-income residential project.
How Georgia is Improving Affordable Housing as a Platform for Health
By Jimmy Dills, Georgia Health Policy Center Access to quality, affordable housing is critical for supporting good health. For individuals and families with tight budgets, high housing costs can lead to tough choices between making rent and going to the doctor, between keeping the lights on and buying healthy food, or even between being part […]
Atlanta’s Mayor Bottoms unveils $9 million effort to help low-income homeowners
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced three new affordable housing programs Friday to help low income homeowners from being displaced.
The three programs total $9 million, which the mayor said was a “drop in the bucket” of what needed to be invested to make Atlanta an affordable city for everyone.
Overcoming the affordable housing funding challenge
By Guest Columnist MIKE DOBBINS, a professor of the practice of planning at Georgia Tech’s College of Design and and a longtime advocate for housing affordability
The city is making constructive strides toward addressing its ever-growing affordable housing needs. Researchers are pretty much in agreement that a stable, safe, and affordable home provides the fundamental and essential grounding for families to make their way into better education, improved health, higher incomes, and a quality of life that holds out hope.
City seeks to demolish four houses along BeltLine as market doesn’t warrant their upkeep
Crytocurrency doesn’t have a thing on real estate along the Atlanta BeltLine when it comes to the adrenalin rush of speculative investing. The city’s proposal to demolish four derelict houses reminds of that, along with the tatty condition of some dwellings in BeltLine neighborhoods that are supposed to be poised for a gold rush.
Sale of city-owned Civic Center land to AHA raises serious questions
When the City of Atlanta sold the 19-acre Civic Center site to the Atlanta Housing Authority for $31 million, the deal occurred with virtually no public involvement.
It was a deal struck by two public officials – Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and Catherine Buell, president and CEO of the Atlanta Housing Authority.
As Atlanta’s skyline grows, so does city’s affordable housing crisis
By Steven Labovitz The cityscape, culture, and even color of our bustling city in the forest is changing faster these days than most people’s socks. Everywhere in Atlanta massive, new structures are going up as older, crumbling ones are razed. What was once a blighted factory on the east side is now trendy loft space […]
Integral’s Egbert Perry finds stance of AHA and Mayor Reed ‘baffling’
Affordable housing developer Egbert Perry, and his Atlanta-based company – Integral, are fighting back against claims by Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and the Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) that he had received a sweetheart deal to buy land next to his company’s existing developments.
In an effort to set the record straight, Integral and its development partners filed a legal response late Saturday to an AHA lawsuit. The response seeks to correct several statements AHA and Reed have made, which Perry said are misrepresentations of his company’s actions and history.
AHA and Egbert Perry – Know the history before attacking Integral’s options on land
By Guest Columnist HATTIE DORSEY, civic volunteer, founder and retired president of the Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership
After reading recent news articles about Egbert Perry and the Integral Co., I find I just cannot sit idly by and not respond in some fashion. I reluctantly take issue with many of my housing advocate friends who express concern based on media reports that do not dive into the history of what public housing use to be like in Atlanta. Because I happen to know what Integral’s vision was – Redevelop the terrible public housing projects into new and mixed income communities – I want to add my voice because I was involved.
U.S. Housing secretary visits Bedford Pine to commend senior housing project
When U.S. Housing Secretary Ben Carson arrived Tuesday in Atlanta’s Bedford Pine neighborhood to tour a new apartment community for low-income seniors, there was little to remind of the long road traveled to complete the project. All eyes were looking forward, not back.
Historic Adair School to be renovated into an affordable arts community
By Maria Saporta An affordable arts community will be bringing new life to the historic George Adair School in the Adair Park neighborhood in southwest Atlanta. The Creatives Project, an arts nonprofit, has joined forces with local developers Stryant Investments and Building Insights Inc. to offer affordable housing to artists and people in the creative […]
Time has arrived to unite for Atlanta’s kids
By Guest Columnist DAVID SUITTS, founder of Unite For Kids Atlanta
When people ask why I care about early childhood development, I think back to when I first thought I could maybe teach.
There’s a Youtube video of that summer: I’m filming and talking at three girls, none whom could be older than 6 years.
Decatur opens public housing that may be model for the future
The next generation of public housing may have opened recently in Decatur. Trinity Walk provides affordable homes in green buildings on a sustainable campus, with on-site resources to address the nutritional and human service needs of residents.
Atlanta’s lack of affordable housing prompts call to revive Housing Commission
In 1993, the need for affordable housing was so great that the Atlanta City Council created a Housing Commission to recommend solutions; the commission evaporated. Now, a pending proposal would revive the commission and charge it with meeting the challenges of this era.
