"A New Roadmap for Workforce Development in DeKalb County" was presented by Raymond Christman, Executive Director of the Livable Communities Coalition at the Bringing Workers Home regional forum in Atlanta, June 2010, as part of the partnerships panel
Officer Next Door program provides second mortgages to first responders—this expands on that by presenting the range of options available to help WFHHs
About 50% of renter households are burdened with rent (more than 30%) and 25% pay more than half
Immergluck did a study of sales of housing in Fulton, and found that the lowest priced (under $30K) were likely going to investors; probably the same case in DeKalb with the large spike in sales under $99K
Darkest orange = expensive, Regular orange = WFH, Yellow = “Affordable” Generally price ranges are segregated from one another—not a lot of mixed-income communities Mixture in the south part of county but again farthest drive to jobs Mixed-income (income inclusive?) communities are better poised to withstand market/economy fluctuations
The areas where most workforce and affordable housing is located is far from transit and has the highest gasoline expenses Gas costs for city of ATL residents doubled, while rest of DeKalb in red areas it QUADRUPLED (from sitting in traffic, driving further for jobs) This was taken from Center for Neighborhood Technology
Ad put out by city of Greenville SC to use ATL’s traffic against it – the economic drawbacks from
Our recommendations are comprehensive and meant to start with the inexpensive things DeKalb can do to start streamlining its housing programs and using them more efficiently Our recommendations don’t just focus on housing, but on linking housing with jobs and transportation Our recommendations are based on our belief that DeKalb has to put more of its own resources/tax dollars into housing eventually Our recommendations seek to streamline and integrate housing and econ dev initiatives, and be more strategic/geographically focused in deploying resources Also it’s not just about getting WF HHs into homeownership—it’s about supporting existing homeowners AND renters, preserving the housing stock, and building WFH in more strategic areas
Truth is there aren’t enough resources to transform the entire County; goal should be to have structure and data in place to identify strategic areas to target housing resources, and then point other programs there that support housing indirectly (parks improvement, homeowner counseling, infrastructure improvements, job training programs, and of course economic development) Should focus on neighborhood level, Census tract can be too big to have a sizable impact
TOD stuff and Workforce housing ordinance is already almost done, just have to pull the trigger, find the $$