Atlanta Housing Authority's East Lake Meadows - Picture courtesy of Creative Loafing AtlantaBy Lianna Shen
Regent Park isn’t the only housing project that’s changing. And Toronto isn’t the only municipality who wants to change the projects.
I’ve been in Atlanta, GA, for the past few days and though I’m situated in the quiet suburbs, I thought I’d cruise around some of the housing projects of the ATL. And by cruising, I mean research.
The Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) is in the middle of a sweeping plan to get rid of all the city’s traditional public housing facilities. They will be replaced with – you guessed it – market-rate, mixed-income communities. Sound familiar?
The AHA says that traditional public housing will have all but vanished in Atlanta with the exception of a dozen senior citizen towers and two very small conventional properties currently tucked away in residential areas.
But for these changes to occur, Atlanta public housing residents are being displaced. In Regent Park, the revitalization project is also moving residents around - they are being moved to other parts of the city and the municipality is helping to place them. Here in Atlanta, the system is different.
Instead of placing all the low-income people in specified areas and housing, the agency is giving out “Section 8 vouchers”, which pay a portion of rent for a private apartment or house the family finds on its own.
Residents who qualify for these vouchers will pay roughly the same as what they pay for rent now and can live anywhere in the United States that accepts the vouchers.
On October 17, the residents were briefed on all of their upcoming moves and were told that the changes are a "quality of life" initiative that will allow them to leave public housing in favor of better homes.
"This is the first step toward your new life," said Renee Glover, executive director of the Atlanta Housing Authority, as reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "We are so excited and proud of you."
In all, AHA eventually will move people out of 12 different housing projects. In comparison, Regent Park’s phase-by-phase demolitions seem minuscule. But both cities are attempting the same goal: Get rid of the projects, and make it a part of the city.
2 comments:
Welcome to Atlanta. I thought I would provide your readers with a little additional background about the Atlanta Model.
ESCAPING THE PUBLIC HOUSING PROJECTS: In our city, thousands of people want the opportunity to escape the deplorable social and physical conditions of the public housing projects. Families are seeking the opportunity to take advantage of Atlanta Housing Authority’s (AHA) rental vouchers (a "rent coupon" that makes market-rate rents affordable for low-income families). It is my belief they should have that opportunity.
Because citizens want to make choices about where they live, AHA has secured the opportunity for families to make this very personal choice, and no one should stand in their way. It was inappropriate in decades past when government, especially during the Jim Crow era, legislated where people may or may not live. It is intolerable today for government agencies or Advocates to second-guess a family’s decision about where they desire to live.
At AHA, we are pleased with the progress we have made. AHA positively impacts individuals, families, and neighborhoods and provides access to healthier living conditions for more families than ever before. With our private partners, AHA has razed more than a dozen obsolete and distressed public housing projects and in their place developed mixed-use, mixed-income communities for Atlanta’s citizens.
Through new construction, investment in existing private properties, and other public/private ventures, AHA is assisting nearly 6,000 more low-income households than the agency served in 1994.
NEIGHBORHOOD DEMOGRAPHICS: Community and civic engagement has increased in Atlanta’s revitalized communities. In fact, in AHA revitalized neighborhoods, more than 6,000 additional citizens have registered to vote (approximately 5,000 of these newly registered voters are African-American).
Before neighborhood revitalization (1994): Approximately 15,000 households receive assistance from AHA. After neighborhood revitalization (Today): Approximately 21,000 households receive assistance from AHA
Before neighborhood revitalization (1994): 7,644 African-American registered voters in precincts in which housing projects were revitalized into mixed-income communities. 445 were non-African-American voters. After neighborhood revitalization (Today): 12,590 African-American registered voters in precincts in which housing projects were revitalized into mixed-income communities. 1,679 are non-African American voters
EMPOWERING LOW-INCOME FAMILIES: Housing vouchers make rents affordable for low-income families and – to no one’s surprise – the overwhelming majority of families choose to stay within the city limits. Unlike the past when the system controlled a family’s housing options, housing vouchers empower families to choose where they want to live.
Although the cost of housing in the city is increasing, the voucher presents low-income families with the opportunity to stay in the city. For the first time, many low-income families have the power to determine where they will live and they are choosing locations that are best for them.
Although families are choosing to escape the deplorable social and physical conditions of the public housing projects, few leave for the suburbs.
Rick White, Spokesperson for Atlanta Housing Authority
Hey Kristina,
I hope you are doing well! I actually took the story down because it is not finished and I'm not very happy with what I have. The story just barely scratched the surface and I don't want to put anything online until it is complete. I plan to go back and finish it when school ends.
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