The City of Atlanta recently opened a new Housing Help Center at Two Peachtree Street, a one-stop shop for Atlanta residents seeking affordable housing resources. The $600,000 investment is part of Mayor Andre Dickens’ and the Community Foundation’s $200 million investment to build and preserve quality affordable housing at an unprecedented scale and pace.
With a generous $100 million commitment from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation and Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation, Atlanta also has a historic chance to address one of our city’s most infamous challenges: economic mobility. These dual issues – affordability and economic mobility – threaten our competitiveness and the vitality of our community.
An important part of the equation is homeownership. Quality, affordable homes for hardworking people in safe and vibrant neighborhoods provide a solid foundation of economic stability, increased access to education and more. And homeownership promotes wealth building as owners’ equity increases through home value appreciation. Absent that opportunity, people are generally unable to build wealth and change generational patterns of hardship.
Credit: contributed
Credit: contributed
That opportunity – once available to more and more people over generations – began to shrink in recent decades. In just the past decade in Atlanta, the average median home price has increased from $180,000 to $450,000. Where once upon a time, a family with a household income of $50,000 to 60,000 could afford to own a home, they now need at least $80,000 to $100,000 to have a shot. Wages have simply not increased in step with these price surges. In the face of such a stark market disadvantage, downpayment assistance programs, for example, have seen success over time. But the rising costs of land, construction and more have fundamentally changed the equation.
There are solutions to make homeownership possible for more people. Recently the state, recognizing the challenge, has directed significant funding from its general fund. State property tax relief has been proposed for affordable homeownership in a community land trust or affordable mortgage programs. At the local level, policymakers have the opportunity to streamline regulation for building affordable homes rather than adopting restrictive policies about minimum lot and home sizes, for example.
Over four decades at Atlanta Habitat for Humanity, we’ve seen the trajectory change for generations of families through home ownership. As an affordable home builder, financial institution and resource for homeowners, we don’t give away homes. Every homeowner goes through a selection process that requires them to participate in financial education and home maintenance courses. They invest sweat equity in the building of their homes. And we see the opportunity for economic mobility and generational wealth move from dream to reality. Today, we’re transforming whole communities through neighborhood revitalization, education, innovative development and partnerships.
Atlanta has an opportunity – once again – to lead on a critical social and economic issue in America. When we are successful in creating pathways to homeownership and economic mobility, we will increase our competitiveness as a city, a region and a state. We will retain – and add to – the pool of talent we need to fuel the companies we are growing and attracting. In the process, the new homeowners will do what new homeowners have always done with disposable income: become consumers who attract further investment in our communities. They will also have a greater stake in their communities, becoming more likely to engage in civic life, schools and other community organizations and institutions.
In addressing affordable housing, we need a spectrum of rental and homeownership opportunities across our communities. Business, civic, philanthropic, advocacy and neighborhood leaders in Atlanta can leverage the city’s and the Community Foundation’s needle-moving investment to make a difference for all Atlantans.
Use your voice. Consider how your company, organization or neighborhood can get involved. The time to act is now.
Alan Ferguson is president and CEO, Atlanta Habitat for Humanity.
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