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Julie Sellers, Partner, Pursley Friese Torgrimson. (Courtesy photo)
What is affordable housing? There are probably as many answers to this question as there are challenges regarding affordable housing in the Atlanta area. Affordable housing is not a new or simple problem, but it is an important issue facing residents, businesses and elected officials across the country. Some counties and cities have adopted economic incentives and tax breaks to encourage the construction of affordable housing for households with varying levels of income. Often elected officials feel constrained by public opposition to smaller apartments or houses, and historical development patterns have not helped. The mere fact that the Atlanta subway is growing and that people need places to live is without debate.
Affordable housing encompasses a complex web of social, economic, political and legal issues. The "median income per area" is often used as a reference to determine the level of affordability. The Fulton County MAI published by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development costs $ 67,500. According to information from the Bleakly Advisory Group, 52% of Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett workers earn $ 40,000 or less. For households earning between 60% and 80% of the MAI, rents ranging from $ 740 to $ 1,035 per month or a home purchase of between $ 123,000 and $ 170,000 would be the upper limit.
The city of Atlanta is taking steps to evaluate this complex problem. Last year, the city became the first in Georgia to adopt a zoning ordinance of inclusion. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has committed to a $ 1 billion affordable housing campaign; HouseATL was created as an intersectoral group of leaders to create a plan of action; and the city has named its first housing manager, Terri Lee. The legal landscape of property rights and land use / zoning is intimately linked to the social, economic and political problems of the problem and to various solutions.
The first zoning ordinance was promulgated in 1916 in New York to separate industrial land uses from residential land. In 1926, the US Supreme Court ruled that land use regulation was a legitimate use of the government's policing powers. To be legal, the restriction must be related to public health, safety or well-being. Historically, zoning restrictions divided cities according to the type of use of the property (industrial, commercial, residential, etc.) and the size of the property.
Most, if not all, residential zoning categories are by their nature exclusive and not exclusive. Since 1978, the American Bar Association's Housing and Urban Growth Committee has recognized large lot zoning, minimum housing size, and the banning of multi-family dwellings as exclusive government land-use controls. local.
In Burlington County NAACP c. Township of Mt. Laurierthe New Jersey Supreme Court has imposed a duty on local governments to combat exclusionary practices and to provide a "fair share" of the region's low and moderate income housing needs. Although the Supreme Court of Georgia was able to settle the matter in 2000 (Henry County c. Tim Jones Props., 273 Ga. 190), the court upheld the finding of the court of first instance that it was unconstitutional. To date, the Georgia Courts of Appeal have not rendered an opinion on exclusionary zoning.
Residential zoning districts based on the minimum size of the land and the house continue to prevail in Georgia. New and old cities developed on the basis of this division. In 2016, the White House released a housing development toolkit that recognized the barriers created by local land use policies and said that innovative efforts to address the housing shortage were most effective solution. Earlier this year, at the Regional Housing Forum, restrictive zoning regulations that limited the type and number of homes that developers are allowed to build were identified as one of the top three drivers of the crisis. current housing.
At the local level, the Atlanta Belt Belt has generated significant growth and controversy over property values and rental rates. By enacting an Inclusion Zoning Order effective January 2018, the City has required new ten or more rental housing units located in the Westside Overlay and Westside Overlay Districts to reserve one-family units for AMI rate equal to or less than 80%, or pay a line instead. fresh. The developer has the option to choose up to three incentives, namely: increase density, transfer development rights, eliminate or reduce parking requirements and review priority permissions to speed up the process. Across the country, inclusion zoning laws have been challenged before the law as an unconstitutional decision and a violation of the official procedure. The results of the challenges varied by jurisdiction. While inclusion zoning is a zoning change to provide more affordable housing, this complex issue will not be resolved by this one change.
The HouseATL committee recognized legal barriers to housing affordability and recommended new zoning changes. More specifically, HouseATL identified four non-subsidized housing solutions: cohabitation in single-family homes; increased density on single-family plots through accessory housing, quads and cottage courtyards; microunits in multifamily developments; and multifamily cohabitation. To implement these solutions, it will be necessary to modify the zoning code. First steps were taken to allow the use of secondary suites (ie a small house) on properties with R-5 zoning. R-5 zoning already allowed duplexes, but the addition of the accessory dwelling unit opened the door to a small residential unit (max 750 square feet) instead of a traditional attached duplex. Other changes, such as changing the definitions and the possibility of using a more creative way a traditional single-family structure will take more time. Updating zoning codes to encourage inclusion is one of many factors that will determine whether the city will reach the goal of 24,000 new affordable and affordable homes over the next eight years.
Julie Sellers is a partner at the Pursley Friese Torgrimson law firm in Atlanta. His practice focuses on the defense of zoning and land use claims for homeowners, builders and developers. She is Vice Chair of the City of Atlanta's Urban Design Committee and a member of the CREW, Council for Quality Growth and ULI Committees.
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