Affordable

Consultant tells offifficials employerswon’t favor city if residents are leaving.

Sandy Springs is losing itsmost fifinancially vulnerable residents through displacement and the high cost of housing, a consultant told city offifficials this week. He warned the city is at risk of becoming a less attractive destination for employers of jobs at all income levels.

Over the last decade, Sandy Springsfocusedonredevelopment for earners of higher income. But data shows there are now fewer single- family home options for fifirst- time homebuyers earning a moderate income and renters earning even less.

MatthewBedsole, a senior analystwithHR& AAdvisors, told the City Council on Tuesday that 81% of single- family homes in Sandy Springs are soldabove $ 400,000.

“If low and moderate income households can’t afffffffffffford to live in the city, then maybe certain types of employers aren’t going to be looking to the city quite as readily,” he said.

Sandy Springs officials plan to use the study to fifigure out a newhousing policy that includes affffffffffffordable housing. That could include changing land- use regulations in order to repurpose vacant shopping centers.

The city hired HR& A a few months ago to study the housingneeds of residents, fromlower income to the most wealthy.

Renters earning less than $ 55,000 per year are leaving Sandy Springs because they can’t fifind an affffffffffffordable place to live, Bedsole said. About 1,000 apartment units have beendemolished since 2010 and rent prices have substantially increasedafter renovations at other apartment properties, also causing less well- offff renters to depart, he said.

Rentpriceshaveincreasedthree times faster than incomes over the last couple of years, according toHR& A. An 800- square- foot apartment renting for $ 800 per

month in 2011 is $ 1,050 per month today, Bedsole said.

The consultants estimate up to 350 homeswere demolished between 2011 and 2020 and replaced with more expensive single family residences. Some valued at $ 1 million or more, Bedsole said.

“These teardownsare usuallyoccurring in twoprimary areas,” Bedsole said. “These ( are) older lot homes around the City Center, built in the ’ 50s and the ’ 60s; a lot of ranch homes that have been torndownandreplaced. And then a lot heading towards Chastain Park in the south.”

Sandy Springs officials have been in an increasing quandary as the city has sought to address worries about displacement, housingaffordabilityandthe redevelopmentdemandsofmore wealthy residents living in high- end homes in the city’s north end.

That neighborhood is a blend of residents, with some in homes priced over $ 1 million and others inolder apartment complexes and townhomes. The area also includes the Community AssistanceCenter, where clients rely on its food pantry.

A small amount of redevelopment is already underway in the north end. Ellison Park, anewhousingdevelopment under construction by DavidWeekley Homes, has started showing its model townhome with prices starting at $ 450,000.

Less than 3 miles away, two older apartment communities built in the 1980s and formerly called Cascade at Morgan Falls and The Fountains at Morgan Falls are scheduled to get a major renovation in 2021 to make them more upscale. Carroll real estate investment company purchased them in October and plans to invest more than $ 30 million in overhauling the apartments, and another complex purchased inMarietta, The Columns at BentleyManor, a statement said.

Sandy Springs’ first major redevelopment projectof the early 2010s started at the south end of the city. The Gateway mixed- use development led to lower income, mostly non- English- speaking residents, being displaced at Chastain and Versailles apartments in 2013.

Redevelopment also resulted in displacement of residents at two other apartment complexes: Provence North and Park 225, which were torn down in 2015.

Redevelopment of downtown Sandy Springs two years later brought several luxury apartment buildings, such as Square One, Modera, Adley City Springs, The Cliftwood and, separately, construction of new family homes. That spurred upgrades at older apartment communities, resulting in increased rent prices that forced many low- to moderateincome renters to move out of the city, HR& A’s study showed.

Last week, Mayor Rusty Paul told The Atlanta JournalConstitution that the city needs housing for teachers, landscapers and other people of a wide range of income levels.

“Kids who grew up in Sandy Springs can’t afford to live here,” Paul said. “We just had two large complexes that sold for a lot of money. That means continued pressure on rents for people living here andworking in service jobs.”

That was echoed by Bedsole during Tuesday’s meeting. Employerswho hire service and essential workers are concerned about retaining staff and attracting new hires because of the housing challenges, Bedsole said. And they want employees to be able to live close to work.

Basedonthehousingstudy, theconsultantsadvisedSandy Springs to think of older apartment complexes as affordableassetsthatcanhelp the city continue to attract employers.

HR& Apartner PhillipKash told City Council members that a change inland- use regulations, in addition to some type of subsidy to reduce construction costs or rents, couldmake affordable housing attractive to developers.

That’s something the city couldbeclose toconsidering.

Paul told the AJC that four older shopping center properties that are the focus of a north end advisory committee could perhaps be a site for housing that’s affordable forSandySprings’workforce.

Melanie Couchman, of Sandy Springs Together and an advocate for affordable housing, said displacement comes at a cost to not only the people forced to move but also the community, including schools.

Couchman and her husband David, co- founder of SST, served on the city’s task force for ideas on redevelopment in the north end in 2018. The two pushed officials to keep affordable housing in the city. She told the AJC at the time that high housing costs left little room for disposable income for many families, which affects retail and restaurants in Sandy Springs.

Couchman said she’s encouraged by the recent housing study.

“It supports what we’ve been saying for several years,” she said.

AJC 2015 TheGatewaymixed- use developmentwas one of the fifirst projects in the early 2010s aimed at redevelopment. It led to lower- income residents being displaced. Now, someapartments that rented for $ 800 permonth around the city in 2011 cost $ 1,050 permonth.