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Affordable Homes
Money, Housing and Zoning
Financial scams targeting people with
strained incomes have become so common that
people are being frightened away even from le
gitimate deals like buying a home, according to
Heather Benham of the Athens Land Trust (ALT).
What's really needed for a lot of working families
are homes that cost below $90,000, Benham
says, but those are rare. Athens has affordable
houses, but many are so run-down that "they're
not safe to live in," she says. The land trust
partners with other local organizations to provide
homes that are "permanently affordable"—mean
ing that ALT retains ownership of the land that
the homes sit on, and if the family that buys a
home ever re-sells it. the land trust will keep the
home affordable for the next buyer.
This year, ALT will build 120 apartments in
its "Fourth Street Village" development; 94 of
them will be available
at below-market rates.
Those will be rentals,
Benham says, but if a
family can afford it,
buying a home is the
best option. A person
who rents may spend $670,000 over 50 years,
the land trust figures, while if they buy a home,
they could save two-thirds of that money over
the same time period.
But even when affordable homes are available,
potential buyers are often skeptical, she says.
"There are a lot of people out there that didn't
really know if they could own a home," Benham
says. Many people with strained incomes have
been preyed upon by scam artists in the past,
and may deal only in cash, she says. That can be
wise, but a home is an investment worth going
into debt for, she says.
"What's really important as far as addressing
poverty is to quit marginalizing those people and
pushing them into enclaves," says Benham, who
is on the steering committee for the anti-poverty
task force Partners for a Prosperous Athens. Many
people, she says, don’t realize that poor people
are often just "the people they work with—it's
the single mom who's working at the University.
They're not really that much different than a lot
of middle-class people, but sometimes it's just a
single income instead of two." And isolation in
very different neighborhoods may be "part of the
housing problem" in Athens, she says.
In some cities—like Chapel Hill, NC—a local
development requirement called "inclusionaty
zoning" encourages developers to build mixed-
income homes as part of new developments. In
Chapel Hill, new residential developments must
include some units that rent below market rates,
if a rezoning has been grarvted for the project.
According to ALT, that program has added over
100 "permanently affordable" homes in Chapel
Hill. "It's been pretty successful in a lot of
places, and it'd be kind of nice to see them try it
here," Benham says. The land trust discussed the
issue with ACC Commissioners last year, and some
of them welcomed the
idea of people with dif
ferent incomes living
closer together. "That's
how it was when they
were growing up, is
everybody kind of lives
near each other—you're not in walled-off sub
divisions based on your income," she recalls of
that meeting. "What we really need is for some
one with political will to take it on," Benham
notes. Many "inclusionary zoning" programs offer
density bonuses to developers to make them
more acceptable, she says, but in Athens-Clarke
County, "we've got it zoned so dense now, that
it's hard to give density bonuses."
Athens Land Trust has also rehabilitated eight
homes in Athens for qualified families, and is
working on eight more. "In the neighborhoods
that we're working in, people are excited" to see
boarded-up "drug houses" fixed up and sold to
families who will be long-term residents, Benham
says. "But if you don't plan ahead," then fixing
up the neighborhood can raise property values
(and taxes) "dramatically" for the existing resi
dents, so that they can no longer afford to live *
there. That's why ALT tries to buy several houses
in an area at once. Benham also thinks the local
government should consider increasing the tax
relief given to elderly homeowners. "They've been
invested in the neighborhood a long time, and
they've stayed there long enough to see it turn
around and come back up again," she says. "They
shouldn't be penalized for that."
John Huie iphuie@speedladory nel
Building The County
And Managing Onr Growth
The diverse TDRs study committee appointed
by Mayor Heidi Davison has now met twice.
TDRs—transferable development rights—are a
market mechanism used in parts of the country
to protect greenspace in some areas by shifting
development density to othe r areas through the
buying and selling of development "rights."
TDRs have captured the imagination of local
environmentalists like the Athens Grow Green
Coalition, which supports them "as a way of
preserving greenspace in the AR zone." TDRs are
not part of the ACC land use plan, which passed
in 2000 and substantially increased allowable
densities in town, while limiting development in
the agriculturally-zoned "greenbelt." (The 2000
land use plan also allows for mixing residential
and commercial developments, and requires rear
parking lots, trees and sidewalks in new develop
ments in order to encourage more "walkability.")
Former mayor Doc Eldridge agreed to appoint
a study committee on TDRs, but never did; Mayor
Davison has now done so. TDRs, she told the new
committee at its Jan. 25 meeting, are "work
ing in some other places," but she added, "I
don't know whether they're right for this county
or wrong for this county." Committee members
weren't sure, either. "What good would it do, and
who would it be good for?" asked Marion Stroud.
"The places where it has been tried, there's about
as much negative as positive," he said.
Stroud suggested inviting TDRs advocates to
make their case to the committee. "If they're try
ing to sell it, let 'em sell it to us," he said. But
ACC Planning Commissioner Karen Middendorf
defended the need for open space. "It'll become
even more valuable as we get tighter and tighter
in this area," she said. Besides, pollution is a
growing concern—"let's face it," she said, "we're
in the process of poisoning ourselves."
Committee co-chair and ACC Commissioner
Charles Carter, who farms in eastern Clarke
County, hoped a TDRs program could protect
the value of farmland. Limiting rural develop
ment to one house per 10 acres—the current
requirement, unless extensive "conservation
subdivision" requirements are met—"just killed
the value of land," Carter said. Land agent Gerry
Whitworth agreed. "We've chosen to go out and
ring around this county a greenbelt," he said, at
the expense of rural landowners. "It's so unfair
what has happened to these people, and (TDRsj
is a way to give it back."
Builder Tom Reynolds was also dubious of pro
tecting the "greenbelt" in a county as small as
Clarke, when neighboring counties have no such
limitations. 'What if we do have this tiny little
ring around us, and huge development outside
the county?" he asked. Whitworth agreed—the
Ingles supermarket outside Athens in Madison
County, he said, is one of that chain's busiest.
"And then they're going to get it in Oglethorpe
(county)... it's all going elsewhere." Middendorf
agreed that a regional plan would be better.
Commissioner Carter pointed out that it will
be hard to sell extra density through a TDRs
program, since "every time somebody comes in
(to commissioners) and asks for more density,
they've been getting it." And where would the
higher densities go? TDRs programs typically
pick "sending zones" and "receiving zones,"
with the rights to build higher densities being
sold between the two. Nobody on the committee
thought picking the "receiving zones" would be
easy. "It's going to open such a can of worms,"
said Whitworth. "Whoever has the most influ
ence" will decide where the higher densities will
go, he predicted. "I believe we can find [receiv
ing zones), if we do it right," said Liz Kramer of
UGA's Institute of Ecology. That would mean be
ing "creative and flexible," she said. Middendorf
agreed: "There are other ways to create density
without ruining neighborhoods." Whitworth in
sisted, "We're going to have to go vertical."
"I'd like to minimize suburban sprawl," said
Planning Commissioner Lucy Rowland. "It's cre
ated a tremendous amount of problems." Instead
of allowing new developments to sprawl out, the
county should concentrate development near
existing services and facilities—"and that," she
said, "will save the taxpayers a lot of money."
The advisory committee will continue to meet
on a "fairly aggressive schedule," co-chair and
ACC Commissioner Alice Kinman said.
John Huie iphuie@speedfactorynet
Capitol Impact
The Latest Solution
Here's a pop quiz for Georgia parents: if a
tocil school system wants to improve the test
scores of its high school students, what should
it spend its money on? New books for the school
library, or new uniforms for the football team? If
you answered that buying books for the media
center was a more urgent use of school funds,
then you're hopelessly out of step with the lat
est educational trend sweeping across Georgia
arvu other states. Under a proposal endorsed
enthusiastically by Gov. Sonny Perdue and his
colleagues, spending for football uniforms takes
a higher priority than spending for libraries.
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by TOM TOMORROW
WHILE THEY RE AT IT, MAYBE THEY
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VALERIE FLAME'S NAME—Are WHY!
What’s really needed for a lot of
working families are homes that cost
below $90,000, but those are rare.
FEBRUARY 8,2006 FLAGP0LE.COM 5