During her recent State of the City address, her fifth as Decatur Mayor, Patti Garrett gave additional details on the city’s 26-member Affordable Housing Task Force that was created late last year. Garrett said the Task Force has several critical charges including:
*Determining a definition of “affordable” as it relates to housing in Decatur.
*Completing a study on what housing price points are currently available within the city.
*Developing recommendations and submitting these findings in a report to the city commission sometime early this year.
There are three general tiers of affordable housing nationwide: low income or 80 percent of the Area Median Income, very low income or 50 percent AMI, and extremely low or 30 percent AMI.
Garrett did say in her State of the City, “We are not alone in the metro region or in the entire country in facing challenges in housing to meet the needs of middle income and work force earners. But we are committed to making meaningful progress.”
A Dec. 2018 master plan for the 77-acre Legacy Park, purchased by the city in 2017, identifies affordable housing as a major priority for that site. But neither that plan, nor a more detailed comprehensive site plan (adopted by the city commission last December) identifies how much or what income tier of affordable housing is suitable for the site.
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