Fixing America’s Housing Problems

I’m glad to see the election is bringing affordable housing issues into focus. While both parties are late in the game with their potential solutions, there may be time to find a way out of the dilemma at the root of America’s negative self-image.

It’s too easy to come to the conclusion that the problem is intractable, with fundamental forces keeping housing prices out of reach for most Americans. People are living longer than ever, contributing to global population growth from 7.2 to 8.2 billion over the last decade, according to the United Nations, which says much of the population is in developing countries that may lack the resources to accommodate the growth. One study indicates some parts of the world could become uninhabitable due to climate change.

The inevitable rise in immigration from unstable countries into stable ones has resulted in more people inclined to want to close the borders rather than let more immigrants into developed countries. Then there is the NIMBY factor, where communities uncomfortable with growth – from immigrants or otherwise – fight density changes and transit needed to accommodate the teachers, firefighters, police and health workers necessary for growing aging and workforce populations. The result is “stranded seniors” with big, beautiful properties but not enough access to critical social and health services. There is also an extra layer of bureaucracy in some areas, hampering affordable development through covenants and zoning restrictions.

And then you have hedge fund managers buying up old affordable housing developments for their eventual resale potential, which can drive up both sale and rental prices. According to HouseATL, a coalition of civic leaders that seeks to create a five-county system to eliminate barriers to affordable housing investment, institutional investors bought 19% of all single-family homes in Metro Atlanta in 2022, more than in any other metro area.

While Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens’ goal of 20,000 affordable housing units by 2030 is already at the 40% mark, access to funding has traditionally been overly complicated, and as a result the best intentions often can’t keep pace with demand. Zoning laws that don’t allow for density or smaller, more affordable homes can also be a stumbling block.

HouseATL has created the Funders Collective, a collaborative of public, private and philanthropic investors seeking to raise new capital, coordinate resources and move quickly to address gaps in projects so they can create and preserve affordable housing. Atlanta, after all, pioneered mixed-income developments with the first-in-the-country developments in the ’90s.

Photo credit: Homegrounds

Affordable housing in Georgia has become a bipartisan issue. In 2023 Gov. Brian Kemp created the Rural Workforce Housing Initiative to spur the development of critically needed workforce housing in communities across the state, and the General Assembly approved $35.7 million to start the initiative that same year. Four grants totaling $10.3 million were announced in June to support nearly 312 housing units across five communities: the cities of Blackshear, Gainesville, Reidsville and Sylvester and Bulloch County.

This month’s issue discusses parking reforms that can also help communities with affordable housing. While banks financing a multifamily property typically require parking space minimums, communities can encourage shared parking. Other options include revising codes for parking requirements, which could bring down the cost of affordable housing units by at least $25,000 per space, according to HouseATL. Buckhead Village and the areas surrounding the Buckhead and Lenox MARTA stations have successfully implemented parking maximum requirements at one space per 200 square feet.

And there are federal suggestions. Vice President Kamala Harris proposes to build more stock while enhancing first-time homebuyer incentives, which creates its own internal challenges. Former President Trump wants to vacate space by deporting at least 15 million undocumented immigrants, despite the fact that foreign-born workers make up 30% of construction workers. The fact is the number of foreign workers entering construction fell by nearly half from 2016 to 2020, contributing to the drop in housing stock, a situation that could continue as a result of mass deportations and further delays to immigration reform.

The point is that these discussions are being elevated, and that emerging solutions will get to the root of Americans’ increasingly negative view of America. If Georgia can lead the way, we can move the rest of the country forward.