Atlanta Top Example in "The steep costs of living so far apart from each other" -Washington Post

[10 feet tall]

Originally Posted by evannole

By the way, you do realize that the owners of Skyhouse, or any other apartment building, claim all kinds of tax deductions, don't you? They can, and do, deduct the cost of the paper they print your lease on, for goodness sake. They may not pass the savings on to the renters...

This is the most overlooked point in the conversation and it rarely gets it's due when this topic comes up.

Every apt/condo/whatever building everywhere is owned by someone, and someone is getting the tax benefits. In this case, it just isn't the renter - it's the owner. If you feel the owners are not adequately sharing the tax benefits around, well, that is an income inequality issue maybe. But it isn't the fault of people moving to the suburbs.

[Clayton white guy]

There are hundreds (more like thousands) of condos/ townhomes in the City of Atlanta and close-in suburbs that allow HOMEOWNERS to get the tax incentive for homeownership in Midtown, downtown, and other close-in, dense, and walkable neighborhoods. The other posters who point this out are RIGHT. I for one am glad of this. Homeowners, regardless of what type of home they choose to own, create more stable communities. Homeownership creates an economic stake within a community that simply renting another's property will never give. It is called the "American Dream" for a reason and I feel that all of us are blessed to live in a county (and a metropolitan area) where the dream of homeownership is still alive! By the way, the article also points out that many jobs are spread throughout Metro Atlanta with concentrated nodes in downtown, midtown, uptown/ Buckhead, and the 285 and 400 corridors. That means that suburban people can work where they live just like Intown people can. Myself for example lives in suburban Clayton County AND my job is only three and a half miles away in Stockbridge. Many people in the suburbs "live where they work", too. They best thing about big and beautiful Metro Atlanta is that you have choices: Intown or suburban. Both can give you a high quality lifestyle depending upon just what lifestyle you prefer. Luckily here, we don't ALL have to have the same preferences.

[dblackga]

And all this means . . . what? Atlanta has more room to move around, we like our land and trees around us, and it takes us a little longer to get to where we're going -- but at least getting there isn't snaking your way through a concrete jungle, and when you get home, you have your own piece of land with your own trees, yard, parks, pleasant places to walk/workout, etc. If you prefer urban jungles, there are plenty to be had - go for it. Frankly, I never aspired to be one of the teeming masses of Mumbai. If transportation costs are a part of the cost of living here, that's a cost I'm willing to pay.

I had to laugh at where Shanghai, China is on the chart -- on the bottom, towards the right . . . this is an area that in the last 12 years has basically tripled the number of cars on their streets. Figure 2/3's of the population has less than 8 years of experience driving a car . . . scary. They are fleeing the Shanghai metro area because housing is hideously expensive for shoeboxes -- but they just recently starting being able to afford the means to do so in terms of transportation. Their Metro system is amazing, and still growing but a car -- well, that's a serious goal. Most inner city residents bike or use electric scooters (which are apparently immune to any traffic or pedestrian laws . . .)