The Atlanta City Council on Monday approved two pieces of legislation that authorize the city to seize long-neglected apartment complexes and make them livable.
Authored by District 3 Councilmember Byron Amos, the first resolution allows the city to exercise its eminent domain powers to take control of multifamily properties that have “remained in a demonstrable state of blight for ten or more consecutive years.” The standard it sets for blight is if 10% or more of the apartments are in a state of disrepair.
The other resolution, also by Amos, specifically targets two blighted Westside apartment complexes — Magnolia Park and Azalea Gardens, both Section 8 communities — which it says “have long suffered from neglect, unsafe conditions, and substandard living environments.”
Together, Amos said, the two resolutions put negligent landlords on notice across town: Make long-overdue repairs or be forced to sell your assets to the city.
“My original hope is that these owners will begin to do what they said they would do — provide a safe, clean, affordable product for our residents to stay in,” he told Atlanta Civic Circle. But if they don’t, the city will take them to court.
If the city makes its case and a judge condemns a property, the landlord would then have 30 days to either make repairs or risk eminent domain takeover, said Courtney English, the mayor’s chief policy advisor.
“We’d still have to offer fair market value for the property,” he said. The city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund could be used to buy the properties, he added. The city would then partner with private developers to conduct renovations.
Magnolia Park, located at 60 Paschal Blvd. and Azalea Gardens, at 324 Archer Way, represent particularly egregious cases of neglect, Amos said. “We’re constantly seeing mold, mildew, rodents, lights that have been shot out, grass not being cut.”
“Azalea Gardens was heavily damaged when the tornado damaged the roof of the Georgia Dome,” he added. “That’s right. Not the Benz, the Georgia Dome.” The twister sent debris ripping through surrounding neighborhoods back in 2008 — and the scars remain at Azalea Gardens.
Property owners John Eagan Homes, for Magnolia Park, and Eleven15 Apartments LLC, for Azalea Gardens, could not be reached for comment.
Other neglected Atlanta apartments also could find themselves in the city’s eminent domain crosshairs. For instance, Woodland Heights, the dilapidated Section 8 complex located at 2500 Center St., has recently come under the city’s microscope, due to years of well-documented housing code violations.
But the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) could pose roadblocks if the city tries to seize a property that it subsidizes through Section 8 contracts. HUD recently inspected Woodland Heights and Magnolia Park and found them to be in livable condition, despite the blight. That’s something that a judge will note as the city seeks to exercise eminent domain, English said.