When I moved from Washington, D.C., to Atlanta, I thought I’d escaped the struggle facing many of the friends and neighbors I’d left behind—the realization they were priced out of neighborhoods that had once provided modest homes for working families. When I arrived in Atlanta, I was surprised to find the same trend.
As recently as 20 years ago, Atlanta was heralded as the affordable southern metropolis, attracting transplants who’d grown tired of high rent for tiny spaces with no yards. Some were drawn to large new homes in suburban communities that cost a fraction of the price they’d pay elsewhere (like D.C.). Others flocked to the tree-lined streets of Atlanta’s revitalizing urban neighborhoods—cultural meccas like the Old Fourth Ward, where the average three-bedroom home cost under $143,900. These urban communities were underserved at the time, seen by some as remnants of a golden era long past. Twenty years later, an average three-bedroom home in Old Fourth Ward is valued at over $630,000.
Through the cycles of urban flight, blight, revitalization, and gentrification, there have always been longstanding residents who’ve taken pride in calling urban communities home. It hurts when your once economically underserved inner-city neighborhood is now the hip place to live—with great amenities, multiple transportation options, and a now-vibrant job market—but you can’t afford the rent.
As the former CEO of the Atlanta Housing Authority (Atlanta Housing) and past executive director of one of the largest economic development projects in Washington, D.C., I have witnessed this play out over and over—when cities flourish, low- and moderate-income families get left behind. This is urban displacement.
To ensure that a city’s longtime low-income residents benefit equally from its growth, displacement issues must be addressed head-on. To start, “anti-displacement” policies should be coupled with tools for fostering affordability (inclusionary zoning, property tax relief programs, and housing trust funds to name a few). Using both incentives (the carrot) and enforcement (the stick), local governments can develop creative ways to address displacement, equity, and inclusiveness proactively.
The Carrot: Anti-Displacement preferences
Anti-displacement efforts have slowly begun to emerge as a way to ensure that longtime residents are not moved out of booming urban centers simply because they can no longer afford the rent.
San Francisco provides a great early example. Known for its outrageous housing prices—unaffordable even to middle-income and affluent families—San Francisco’s leaders tackled displacement issues head on with the Willie B. Kennedy senior housing development in 2016. The 98-unit development provided a rare opportunity for some of the city’s most income-strapped residents to find an affordable place to live. To ensure that all residents would have a fair opportunity to benefit from the city’s newest development, a preference was created for local low-income residents to receive a priority for affordable units. When the city needed a waiver of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Fair Housing rules to allow for the “displacement” preference, then mayor Ed Lee, joined by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), stepped up to lead the appeal to HUD. Their collaborative efforts were successful. While the overall demand for affordable housing in San Francisco far exceeds the supply, the resulting “anti-displacement” policy was progress for the city’s goal of narrowing the gap between supply and demand for affordable housing for existing residents.
Citing this model, I was proud to lead the Atlanta Housing Authority as we quickly followed suit to create the city’s first “anti-displacement” policy in spring 2017. The first phase of policy revision began in 2016, when the city commissioned a study on gentrification and displacement through the city of Atlanta’s Office of Housing & Community Development. Based on insights gained from the study, we developed a policy at Atlanta Housing that authorizes the creation of a site-based waitlist preference for residents living in areas experiencing high levels of displacement in the city.
This was an important move as the city was entering a new era of growth and development. In 2015, city planners anticipated that Atlanta’s population would increase by 43% over the next 25 years. To prepare, development plans included innovative projects like the Atlanta Beltline, a 22-mile loop of multi-use trails, streetcars, and parks that connects 45 inner-city neighborhoods (and drive up housing costs in the process). The city boom has resulted in greater access to retail, more green space, increased investments in schools—and of course, increased rents. The average two-bedroom apartment off of the Atlanta Beltline costs anywhere between $2,000 and $3,200 per month. The traditional wisdom is that a household should not spend more than 30% of its income on rent. With an area median income of $74,800, the average rent exceeds the recommended percentage by as much as $15,000 per year. Who can afford that?
Recognizing the high stakes, Atlanta Housing identified a pilot project for its new anti-displacement program—Herndon Square. Located behind Georgia Tech, the former 12-acre public housing site is being redeveloped to include 700 multifamily rental and for-sale housing units—some 40% of which will be reserved as affordable. The development will also feature a grocery store, a health and wellness center, a community S.T.E.A.M. center (science, tech, engineering, arts, and math), and green space. An approximately 100-unit senior housing building is scheduled to break ground first. If successful, the anti-displacement policy will allow longtime city residents to be first in line for the hundreds of new units currently under development—an amazing gift for many.
The Stick: Judicial enforcement
In some instances, agencies are being forced to address displacement issues before approvals are issued for housing developments. Just this April, the D.C. Court of Appeals overturned a zoning commission order approving a 1,400-unit housing redevelopment plan for Barry Farm, a southeast D.C. housing community established shortly after the Civil War to provide land ownership opportunities for African-American “freedmen.”
By the mid-19th century, D.C. officials had begun the practice of locating low-income housing in “East of the River” communities like Barry Farm, including 423 public housing units that were built for public housing residents in 1943. Present-day Barry Farm continues to house low-income D.C. residents—a significant consideration in the court’s decision to halt the proposed redevelopment plan in part because of the lack of consideration given to resident displacement issues.
Washington, D.C., much like San Francisco and Atlanta, suffers from major housing affordability issues. The average D.C rent for two-bedroom units ranges from $1,400 to $3,000 per month. The area’s median income is a whopping $117,200 per year, but when broken down by city wards, the median income for Ward 8, where Barry Farm is located, is $31,642 per year. For these residents who are expected to find new housing, even if only temporarily, the thought of finding a new affordable place to live is especially daunting.
Using the judicial “stick” to pause the redevelopment efforts long enough to ensure that displacement issues were being addressed, the court pointed out that:
“Given the dramatic effect that a forced relocation can have on a family's well-being, such families are entitled to some semblance of predictability. For Barry Farm residents, the relocation plan must be attuned to the realities of the D.C. housing market, and sensitive to the fact that many residents in Ward 8 have already been displaced from other parts of the District.”
Closing
The reality is that finding housing that is affordable is difficult for most of us. For longtime, low-income residents of increasingly popular cities, it feels impossible. While I recognize that anti-displacement policies are only a drop in the bucket, I am proud of Atlanta Housing’s efforts to use the policy tools we have available to proactively face the reality of displacement. For those who work in housing policy or are otherwise interested in housing affordability issues, consideration of displacement policies coupled with other tools (land trusts, subsidies, etc.) may help longtime residents overcome the obstacle of limited affordable housing options.
