Below is the July 30 edition of Housing Happenings. Today’s newsletter was written by Sean Keenan and edited by Meredith Hobbs.
Atlanta Housing (AH) leaders last week voted to move forward with the purchase and redevelopment of Summerhill’s tallest building, a 16-story former Ramada Plaza Hotel, and turn it into 231 affordable apartments for seniors.
AH’s board of commissioners approved a resolution during its July 25 meeting to seek the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) blessing to pay property owner Pellerin Real Estate up to $17.5 million for the 3.25-acre site, located at 450 Hank Aaron Drive, which is anchored by the so-called “stadium hotel” with land for another building.
HUD is expected to approve the purchase application within 30 days, Alan Ferguson, AH’s chief housing and real estate officer, said before the vote. AH would subsequently issue a request for proposals from private developers in September. The housing authority’s board could select a development team in January, and the project will be underway “hopefully in advance of the FIFA [World Cup] activities.”
Atlanta wants more HUD money for homeless services
While metro Miami and Boston collect upwards of $15,000 every year for each unhoused person tallied during the annual, HUD-mandated Point-in-Time study, the city of Atlanta received less than $5,000 for each of the nearly 3,000 people it last counted.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens wants to change that. He’s pressuring HUD officials to increase the amount of money the agency allocates to the city for rehousing people.
In June, this Atlanta Civic Circle reporter watched Dickens slip a piece of paper to HUD Deputy Secretary Jemine Bryon after a press conference. On it, a spreadsheet broke down how much HUD allocates to local governments from its Continuum of Care program to rehouse people experiencing homelessness.
“We need to talk about this,” the mayor told the HUD leader. “We need to talk about making some changes.”
WHAT WE’RE READING
The Washington Post — They have jobs, but no homes. Inside America’s unseen homelessness crisis.
From the article:
The rise in homelessness “is the unfortunate but predictable result of ongoing rent increases,” said Gregg Colburn, a professor at the University of Washington and author of “Homelessness is a Housing Problem.” “And now it’s happening not just in our big coastal cities, but all over the place — in Phoenix and Denver and Atlanta.”
→ Read more
HEARD ON HOUSING
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said his first Atlanta apartment was a two-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bathroom unit off of Howell Mill Road. A college student at the time, he split the $600 rent with a roommate.
📻 Hear the interview with 90.1 WABE’s Rose Scott.
Affordable housing project near City Hall advances
Developers tapped by the city have applied for permits to erect a 207,000-square-foot mixed-use development with 219 apartments — many of them affordably priced — across the street from Atlanta City Hall, What Now Atlanta reported.
More than two years ago, the city of Atlanta issued a request for proposals for 104 Trinity Avenue, then later selected Radiant Development Partners and the Capitol Hill Neighborhood Development Corporation to redevelop the 1.3 acre site.
Dubbed Trinity Central Flats, the $68 million project includes 6,721 square feet of street-level retail — down from the 7,500 square feet initially planned — as well as workout facilities, bike storage, coworking space, and an urban garden above the parking deck. It’s expected to be completed in 2026.
Atlanta Urban Development announces 348 new affordable units
The city announced on Monday that the fledgling Atlanta Urban Development Corporation is spearheading three new housing projects with a total of 348 affordably priced residences. Atlanta formed the entity last summer to identify city-owned land where it could build housing through partnerships with private developers.
Every one of those new units will be priced for Atlantans earning up to 80% of the area median income (AMI), or about $82,000 for a family of four. At least one fifth will be affordable for households earning just 50% of the AMI, or roughly $51,000 for a four-person household.
The largest of the trio is the Mall West End, a 12-acre site located at 850 Oak St. SW, that Atlanta Urban Development Corp. is partnering with BRP Companies to build. It promises 120,000 square feet of retail — including a grocery store, gym, restaurants, and locally owned boutiques — along with medical office space, a hotel, and 893 mixed-income apartments “with 70% workforce housing, 20% affordable at 50% AMI, and 10% at 80% AMI for 271 total affordable housing units,” according to a city press release.
A downtown office-to-residential conversion at 41 Marietta Street NW is a partnership with Blue Lofts to create 120 total units, including 36 affordable at 80% AMI.
A third project, The Proctor, located at 698 Oliver Street in English Avenue, is a partnership with Windsor Stevens Holdings to build a 137-unit apartment complex, including 41 units at 50% AMI.
Atlanta is $500 million short of affordable housing funding goal
A report from the Urban Land Institute on Atlanta Housing’s (AH) development ambitions forecast that the housing authority faces a possible $500 million funding gap in development capital for its plan, announced in 2023, to produce 10,000 affordable units by the 2027 fiscal year, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The estimated cost of AH’s development pipeline for the housing is about $2.1 billion, not including infrastructure costs. While the agency brings 250 acres of vacant land it owns, access to HUD investment capital, and 2,000 dedicated housing vouchers to the table, the authors of the report said,“these assets fall short of the total resources required.”
“Despite AH funding, there is a potential gap of about $500 million in capital investment,” according to the Urban Land Institute.
Since Dickens took office in 2022 through May, Invest Atlanta has closed on financing to create or preserve 3,650 housing units, including 3,314 or 91% priced as affordable. That totals $1.05 billion in capital investment, according to Invest Atlanta.
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