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Making Atlanta More Sustainable, Equitable, and Inclusive STATE of HOMELESSNESS INTERVIEWS and OBSERVATIONS STRATEGIES for AFFOR

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an AFFORDABLEmaking atlanta more sustainable, equitable, ATLANTA and inclusive STATE OF INTERVIEWS AND STRATEGIES FOR COOPER STREET DESIGN HOMELESSNESS OBSERVATIONS AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROPOSAL An introduction to the current An informal interview A review of innovative design An evaluation of a potential situation of homelessness process of stakeholders who techniques that people are site on publicly owned land in Atlanta. A review of the are homeless or work with employing to create affordable that can have a major impact available shelters and homeless individuals. A formal housing. An investigation within the area. Finding a affordable housing options to interview process with those of zoning opportunities and creative solution through the lower income individuals. directly involved in the creation community development. incorporation of research, of affordable housing options recommendation, and to all Atlantans. experience. https://apnews.com/20e2d63e499e4015b6282bbe89fe9c8f/Atlanta-homeless-wary-as-city-closes-its-last-resort-shelter An Affordable Atlanta ■ 2 VISION To make housing available to all Atlantans The content of this document is a working TABLE OF CONTENTS that is non-discriminatory, diverse, inclusive, guide that assesses the current situation Identifying the problem and finding a solution and promotes economic opportunity. This of homelessness through quantitative paper serves to investigate the lowest statistics, qualitative interviews with income earning individuals to achieve the stakeholders, and real time strategies. following objectives: The research is a foundation for STATE OF HOMELESSNESS Pg. 6-19 • Humanize homelessness and reduce understanding the public, private, and Introduction to the problem Pg. 6-9 discrimination community perspectives on homelessness. The Current Situation Pg. 13-15 • Encourage public participation and The site analysis of Cooper Street SW is an Point in Time 2020 Pg. 16-19 the coordination of resources opportunity to apply the lessons learned INTERVIEWS AND OBSERVATIONS Pg. 20-47 from the initial research and a means of PARTONE • Strategize development solutions to The Good, the Bad, the Ugly Pg. 20-27 maximizing the potential of publicly owned affordable housing options Homeless Shelters Pg. 28-37 land to serve its community. IDENTIFYING KEY CONCEPTS Private, Public, Non-Profit Sectors Pg. 37-47 STRATEGIES FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING Pg. 52-65 Housing First Pg. 52-57 “Housing is unconditional, you do not need to solve your prob- Essential Resources Pg. 58-59 lems before you get a home. Instead a home should be the secure Drawing the Line Pg. 60-65 foundation that makes it easier to solve your problems” - Juha PART TWO Kaakinen, CEO of the Y-Foundation COOPER STREET DESIGN PROPOSAL Pg. 66-81 Background Pg. 66-69 CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING Site Analysis Pg. 70-73 Proposal - ImagineATL Pg. 74-81 CONTENT OVERVIEW References Pg. 84-85 Appendix Pg. 86-91 PART ONE IDENTIFYING KEY CONCEPTS An Affordable Atlanta ■4 https://atlanta.curbed.com/atlanta-photo-essays/2019/1/31/18201601/super-bowl-liii-atlanta-gentrification-poverty-blank An Affordable Atlanta ■ 6 State of Homelessness■ 7 tlanta is among the most vulnerable were considered housing-cost burdened. The of any rapidly growing metropolitan federal government suggests that households Aregion because of its developer should spend no more than 30% of their income friendly regulations that encourage rapid on housing and utilities to not be considered STATE OF HOMELESSNESS renewal, and its construction of large, city- burdened. The gini coefficient, which measures wide infrastructural projects like the Beltline. income inequality, scores a 0 to those cities who An introduction to the problem Consequently, in Atlanta, there is a growing have achieved absolute equality and a 1 to cities mismatch between housing costs, wages, and that have complete inequality. It should come income. While Atlanta’s economy has grown as no surprise that Atlanta has been called the over the last decade, wages have not kept "inequality capital" having maintained a Gini ince the 2008 housing recession, decay has started to spread into the suburbs pace with rising rents. Between 2000 and coefficient of 0.57 for several years (Lu 2019). American cities have been undergoing while cities have experienced a rather positive 2017, Atlanta’s median rent increased by over This year, Atlanta ranks last amongst cities with Sa reversal period where people who period of revitalization (Dunham-Jones 2008). 70%, but the median income only increased populations greater than 250,000. by 48% (One Atlanta, 2019). More importantly, once fled the city center are now drawn to The result has been a flourishing market for qually important, as the housing costs over 27% of households still earned less than its alluring qualities. The period of “white real estate developers to focus on housing have increased and the credit constraints $25,000 annually showing a growing gap flight” that decentralized our urban cores construction for a high-cost demand in our have risen in Atlanta, the homeownership for a generation of boomers to find a house major cities. With little regulations against the E rates for communities of color and low-income “History shows that societies which tolerate vast differences in with a white picket fence to start a family, has units being produced and their resale value, residents have declined. Important to note, been replaced by the millennial who wants rental rates have skyrocketed and only the wealth feed resentments and reduce solidarity and actually grow homeownership is one of the primary sources a one bedroom $1400 studio apartment, no people with money have seen a great period more slowly. And when economic power is concentrated in the of inherited wealth between generations which kids, and works in a shared spaced with other of prosperity. In lieu of these investments, the hands of the few, history also shows that political power is sure to allows lower income individuals to take steps to digital share croppers. poorer areas of our cities have experienced follow — and that dynamic eats away at democracy.” get out of extreme poverty. Between 2010 and gentrification, and the urban revitalization or the first time, our suburbs have -Barack Obama 2016, there was a 15% decline in homeownership that was employed to try social inequity, has shown higher poverty rates than rates for all households in Atlanta earning less instead driven long-term residents out of their our cities (Florida 2019). Malls and than $100,000 (One Atlanta, 2019). The South F communities by higher prices. Culture, artistry, between what people can afford versus what large commercial properties have been of the City has a larger population of people of and history that made these communities people are making. With luxury housing being abandoned due to online competition color and a higher percentage of people paying attractive are being lost behind developer the main focus of developers, the percentage by major coporations including: Amazon, more than 30% of their income on housing greed and political complicity. of income dedicated to housing costs greatly Alibaba, and JD.com (Gunter 2017). Urban costs than other areas in Atlanta. More than 70% increased for Atlantans and in 2016, nearly half of renting households in the south and west People are becoming increasingly aware of the motives of the principal beneficiaries of many design and development initiatives (Dobbins 2009, 6) An Affordable Atlanta ■ 8 State of Homelessness■ 9 sides of Atlanta were paying more than 30% of general population let alone provide units that hat is the solution? There is no he negative solutions are those that happen their income towards rent, rather in the north, will fulfill the needs of our homeless individuals. simple solution to the multitude of over the course of several years at the less than 10% of renting households were rent It is not that we do not have the money to provide Wproblems that comes with our cities. Tregional scale. These negative solutions are burdened. In 2015, 22% of renting households affordable housing. It is a matter of effective For every solution we create there will always influenced by big spending campaigns that see in Fulton County received eviction notices, a distribution of funds, of having strong public be a complaint that we could have served a gentrification and displacement as a necessary high percentage of which were levied against and private sector relationships, and of better purpose. However, what we can begin and unavoidable evil. Examples of these changes Atlanta’s south and westside neighborhoods having a sense of urgency. The pace at which to identify is what are positive and what are include the Beltline and the Gulch project, a (Pendered 2017). Above all else, the quality of life our cities are growing largely outweighs their negative solutions. The positive solutions are form of top-down planning. This paper is not between the North and South areas of Atlanta current affordable housing inventory. The Gini those that can be presented immediately and aimed at choosing sides to who is right and who has had an increasing disparity attributed to coefficient is one quantitative measure we can can happen at a small-scale. These incremental is wrong. Rather, the objective is highlighting the the flow of money creating better schools, more employ to drive the need for change and track changes can be affordable housing, main street need and encouraging the collaboration of three greenspaces, additional jobs, and improved its progress. If used in conjunction with our improvements, or a new community space. spheres of influence in creating a more attractive living standards for those that can afford it. For Positive projects preserve neighborhoods for and affordable city. These influences include: the those that cannot afford it, like those living in “No two leaves are alike, and yet there is no antagonism between their cultural and historical value. They maintain private, public, and non-profit sectors.
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