Earlier this month, Alan Ferguson resigned as Atlanta Housing’s (AH) top real estate official for a new job as DeKalb County’s first chief housing officer.
Ferguson says DeKalb created the position in response to the widening housing crisis affecting households across the country. As chief housing officer, Ferguson is charged with developing the county’s first comprehensive housing plan, a policy roadmap for expanding its affordable housing stock.
DeKalb CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson called Ferguson “one of the most accomplished housing leaders in the country,” when she announced his hiring. “His ability to deliver large-scale results while staying grounded in community values makes him the perfect choice to lead DeKalb’s housing strategy,” she said in a press release.
Ferguson has almost 30 years experience in financing and developing affordable housing. Before joining AH as chief housing and real estate officer just over a year ago, he served as CEO for Atlanta Habitat for Humanity, after heading development and operations for a workforce housing developer, American Opportunity Foundation. Before that, he spent eight years at Invest Atlanta in charge of community development.
Atlanta Civic Circle spoke with Ferguson this week about his ambitions for the new job.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Atlanta Civic Circle: Why did you make the jump from Atlanta Housing to this new role developing a comprehensive housing plan for DeKalb County?
Alan Ferguson: I grew up in south DeKalb County, and it’s a big part of what’s made me the person I am. We moved around a lot when I was a kid, and my parents were intensely focused on keeping us in the same school district. Seeing my parents work tremendously hard to make sure that my siblings and I had an opportunity to not only have a great education, but also an opportunity to have a great platform for a successful life was embedded in me.
This is about the importance of housing. I wanted to help people here have that same sense of security and certainty.
At AH your focus was on expanding partnerships with private developers to add to Atlanta’s subsidized housing stock. In DeKalb, you have a broader purview. What does that look like?
My role at DeKalb County is definitely more strategic and comprehensive. We serve the entire population of the county. From the urban nodes to the more suburban nodes, we’re trying to deliver quality housing that’s attainable and affordable to a wide variety of incomes [not just for very low-income households, like Section 8 tenants].
What are your immediate goals? Do you have a checklist? Are you going to create an Affordable Housing Strike Force, like we have in Atlanta, to better coordinate housing development by the county’s public and private sectors?
We’re still early in the process, but I want to create a table for various parties — not just the county departments and agencies, but also community stakeholders — to come together and have conversations about how we can work collaboratively to further housing goals.
A housing strike force-type effort is definitely part of that plan. The big goal up front is to develop a comprehensive housing strategy to connect all our public agencies and private-sector partners. My goal is to take all those things and amplify them to build systems that will allow our work to continue in an impactful way.
DeKalb has never had a comprehensive housing plan or a chief housing officer. What does your new position say about the state of our housing crisis?
Ten or 15 years ago, people involved in affordable housing would mostly just talk about the need for units targeting 60% area median income — [about $64,500 for a family of four in metro Atlanta] — and below. Now the conversation has expanded to, ‘Hey, there’s a housing crisis, and everyone’s affected.’ Even households with strong incomes — traditionally middle-class households — are finding it very difficult to afford housing.
These once-great candidates for homeownership are facing a limited supply of homes, while demand increases. The opportunity for homeownership is being pushed further and further away, as wages continue to be stagnant.
Getting access to quality, safe, secure places is an issue that affects everyone, no matter what your income, no matter whether you want to rent or own, and whatever type of lifestyle that you want to pursue.
Just about everything Atlanta Housing does happens under the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) watchful eye. Do you feel less constrained in your new role? Is there more flexibility for developing housing?
Yes. HUD is a regulatory body, and any time you’re using HUD-derived resources, you’re going to be subject to those regulations and constraints. The benefit of using local resources that are not directly tied to HUD is that it gives you greater flexibility and more creative and innovative freedom to try to push forward.
Let’s address that innovation. What does the future of DeKalb’s built environment look like to you?
Absolutely. When you’re in the midst of a crisis, you can’t really afford to leave any tool on the table that could possibly provide a solution. I think what you’re going to see us do here in DeKalb County is really embrace a variety of housing types, different methodologies, and use different technologies and approaches towards creative housing solutions.
You’re going to find us doing traditional multifamily, but we might also lean more heavily into panelization or modular construction. That way, we can build quality housing faster. And we’ll also create more tiny homes and look at different configurations to get higher density, but still maintain the quality of neighborhoods. The net effect is that it’s going to produce more affordable housing.
Very nice, and congratulations!
How can I find out the status ( college student) for an applicant who is on the waitlist for a unit within the Dekalb County Community Housing project
I certainly hope Mr. Ferguson will be looking at the use of land trusts to purchase and hold the land under new multi units which are sold to the same peeps who might be otherwise renters and that these units then be kept affordable in perperturity vs all the standard plans out there that allow owners/developers to raise prices after a number of contract years. Lets tap into local individual and corporare donors for land purchases. I would contribute to such a plan.
Land trusts, home ownership of tiny homes, and improving the safety and upkeep of existing single-family neighborhoods and older apartments will be key to this effort.
How will this affect affordable housing for older adults — 50+, 55+, 62+, and 65+?
Great to read about plans for “innovation” to address the DeKalb affordable housing “crisis,” in the form of “a variety of housing types, different methodologies, and use different technologies and approaches towards creative housing solutions.”