Atlanta is planning a comprehensive study of the city's housing supply to determine where run-down properties are concentrated and foreclosures have destroyed value. The goal is to attract developers to those areas.
The $250,000 study will cover about 167,000 parcels, including undeveloped land, single-family homes and apartment buildings. Scheduled to be completed by fall 2012, it is designed to yield recommendations on how the city can attract investment.
"Foreclosures have not been very good to communities," said James Shelby, commissioner of the city's Department of Planning and Community Development, which has an annual budget of $8.5 million. "This will help determine the communities that have the greater need."
Inspectors will check on the level of maintenance -- looking for chipped paint, cracked windows or structural deterioration -- and grade properties on a scale from "good" to "deteriorated."
They also will inspect the condition of sidewalks and study whether neighborhoods can be reached by bicycle or mass transit and whether grocery stores and clothing retailers are easily accessible.
Atlanta-based APD Solutions LLC is under contract with the city to collect and present the data. The consulting firm will catalog housing types, foreclosure data and inventories of commercial developments.
"We keep talking about transformative projects in neighborhoods, but we don't have any data," Shelby said.
Mayor Kasim Reed has made dealing with foreclosures one of his main goals for 2012. His staff has talked with some of the largest banks operating in Atlanta to see if the city can take over foreclosed homes. Reed has said he is interested in turning foreclosed homes into inexpensive housing for first responders such as police officers and firefighters.
Atlanta had almost 20,000 foreclosure notices this year. That was down 18.5 percent from 2010 but was 28 percent higher than in 2007, according to the Equity Depot Foreclosure Report.
A foreclosure notice is a step in the legal process of foreclosure. Notices are mailed to mortgage holders to tell them that proceedings are beginning and that their homes will be sold on the courthouse steps if the debts are not paid.
Separately, the Atlanta City Council this month approved legislation cracking down on blighted properties by requiring owners of vacant properties to register them with the city or face $250 fines. The registry is set to launch on Feb. 1. Owners have until April 1 to register.
"This is a great step in the right direction for the city’s code enforcement process," Councilwoman Joyce Sheperd said. "We will be able to hold everyone more accountable."
Council staff said Atlanta is one of several Georgia municipalities developing property registries as mechanisms for code enforcement. Albany, Hapeville, Loganville, Sylvania, Powder Springs and Riverdale, as well as Fulton and DeKalb counties, already have made similar moves, they said.
Staff writer Christopher Quinn contributed to this article.
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