Yes, You Can Build Your Way to Affordable Housing (Atlanta: luxury, elementary school)

[arjay57]

Finally.

Some affordable housing coming to the city of Atlanta.

31-acre ‘village’ of affordable housing announced south of downtown
https://atlanta.curbed.com/2019/10/1...rdable-housing

[samiwas1]

It's awesome that there will be some more affordable, new options. But, the area where these are being built has plenty of housing in, or under, that range. It's a pretty cheap area of town. The article is also somewhat misleading in saying that it's "just south" of downtown, when it's about six miles south. Their map also marks Lakewood Amphitheater, but the amphitheater is 1.5 miles north of their mark, and this development about 2.5 miles away.

But, 3-4 bedrooms with yards at $150,000 is nothing to sneeze at. Very affordable. Helping to bring the cost down is that the land itself is already developed, already has the piping and electric installed, and the owners must help build the houses. That's a huge savings on construction costs.

[arjay57]

Now you've got U.S. Senators blaming NIMBY's for the lack of affordable housing. I guess the real estate developers are just innocent bystanders.




U.S. Senators Want Less NIMBYism, More Agency Lending To Support Affordable Housing

[architect77]

Originally Posted by bu2

There need to be more areas with townhomes and patio homes as opposed to just building more 5+1 apartments and high rise condos.

I will say that thin, vertical townhouse developments are very prevalent in Atlanta already compared to other Sunbelt cities.

It’s a building type that might have somewhat emanated from Atlanta like all the many off of N. Druid Hills Rd in dekalb.

I like them, efficient use of of land and building materials.

Affordable housing that’s new will need to be somewhat like micro-apartments under 1,000 sf if close in and on expensive land.

I would’nt mind then if high quality construction with some concrete components.

If you want good location then you sacrifice spacious units. Choose what’s important.

I think a family could live well in 1100 sf of space.

That used to be the average home size in America’s prosperous era.

But for all your solutions to our problems, they are specific to a metro of our size.

Smaller metros like Raleigh-Durham still think loose sprawl is feasible because the small the town you move to, the car-dependent lifestyle is easier and easier..

[brown_dog_us]

What cities are dense AND affordable?

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by architect77

I think a family could live well in 1100 sf of space.

That used to be the average home size in America’s prosperous era.

Live well, I disagree. Able to do it? Sure. We have a 1,352 square foot town home. There are three of us. We use every square inch of that place on a daily basis and are on top of each other constantly. I cannot wait to upgrade...it's just not enough to live comfortably. Are we surviving? Yes. Are we content? Yes. Are we happy with it? No.

Originally Posted by brown_dog_us

What cities are dense AND affordable?

I do not know of any.

[jsvh]

Good time to revive this post considering this new report. Already relatively dense and rapidly densifying City Of Atlanta out paces most of the rest of the metro in housing affordability. It also has the lowest rent price growth.

Originally Posted by brown_dog_us

What cities are dense AND affordable?

The densest city in the world (Manila) has a rent / over all cost of living about half that of Atlanta.


In cities like Tokyo, the average price of a brand new house is under $300k.

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by jsvh

The densest city in the world (Manila) has a rent / over all cost of living about half that of Atlanta.

It also has an average wage of about $6.85 per hour, as opposed to $25.36 in the Atlanta Metro. That's an average salary of about $14,250 vs. a City of Atlanta average of about $52,000. So, that's an average wage of about 1/4 that of Atlanta.

Just having a lower cost of living does not equate to affordable or "cheap" if the local wages do not account for it.

In cities like Tokyo, the average price of a brand new house is under $300k.

Source? Here's mine...realestate.co.jp

In January 2018, the average list price of a newly constructed house in the Tokyo 23 wards was ¥64,870,000 ($603,000).

The average floorspace of a newly constructed house in the Tokyo 23 wards is 97.6-sqm (1,051-square feet).

The average price of a newly constructed house in the western suburbs of Tokyo is ¥42,380,000 ($394,000). This is 65.3% of the price of a new home in the 23 wards of Tokyo.

It looks like you have to get 15-20 miles outside of the center of Tokyo to see houses that come in under $400,000. And inside the main part of Tokyo, you're averaging over $600k for a 1,000 square foot bungalow. Where are you seeing an average under $300k?

[jsvh]

So, how do you rationalize lower rents in the denser, faster growing parts of metro Atlanta?



Are there factors that result in higher rent / lower affordability being correlated with more density? Absolutely.

Does that mean density causes higher rent / lower affordability? Nope.

Do laws that limit density increase affordability? Nope. They make things less affordable.

[brown_dog_us]

Why is Atlanta and Newnan basically the same? Seems odd if density correlates to affordability. Maybe it's just supply and demand.