Atlanta’s housing crisis: stop making it worse with bad arguments against growth (Sandy Springs: buyers, live in)

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by jsvh

And I am saying I don't think should have the right (or desire) to force all your neighbors to drive BMWs or build less dense homes than they want.

Let your neighbors make their own choices.

Wow. Just wow. Go ahead and destroy that which makes Atlanta unique.

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

APftahaha. Oh, I'm sure you have owned a house since before I graduated college. Then again, I was actually born in this city, and actually grew up in this city. It's been my home twice as long as it has been yours. Specifically, the East-side and Midtown have been my stomping grounds since well before you owned a home in this city.

Just for full disclosure, I had you mixed up with another heavy urbanist on the forum. My apologies.

Outside of that, I got nothing else to say except that I don't like your ideas, and you don't like mine. I'm getting a strong sense that you may be libertarian, which would explain a lot.

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by jsvh

Already today we have house going for over $400K in SW Atlanta. At what point do you feel that prices have been forced too high everywhere in town that you will allow more people to live in existing nice neighborhoods?

Right now, there are only about 20 houses max ITP west of 85 and south of I20 for over $400k, and they are WAY over $400k for the most part. It's not like the area is saturated with high-dollar housing. And in SE atlanta, it's pretty much only in the grant park area. Come on, now...use some valid arguments.

[David1502]

I understand the laws of supply and demand completely and my point is that these closer in areas are in such high demand that even a marginal increase in supply is not going to create a significant drop in prices to create affordable housing in the City of Atlanta. I specifically mentioned a couple of areas where there is increased density - the cluster homes built along North Druid Hills near Toco Hills in the $600,000's and the cluster homes in the Smyrna/Vinings area which run in the $400's. Neither of these would be considered affordable given the median price for the Metro area is in the $200's.


Therefore, if a developer buys a multi-million dollar home in these close in areas, it is hard for me to see how he/she could develop affordable housing unless they go highrise. The numbers just don't work. An example is Tyler Perry's former home on Paces Ferry Rd. at the Chattahoochee River. While it sits on an 18 acre tract, the 23,000 sq. ft. house is so expensive itself, it is hard to see how affordable housing could be developed at such an expensive site. It sold for about $18 million.


The reality is that the market forces of supply and demand have pushed affordable housing out even beyond a lot of the first tier suburbs like Sandy Springs and Smyrna/Vinings. Areas closer in like parts of the City of Atlanta are even more expensive out of range for the average buyer.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by David1502

I understand the laws of supply and demand completely and my point is that these closer in areas are in such high demand that even a marginal increase in supply is not going to create a significant drop in prices to create affordable housing in the City of Atlanta.

Exactly why we need a major overhaul of zoning, not just rezoning a few parcels at a time.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

Wow. Just wow. Go ahead and destroy that which makes Atlanta unique.

Excessive SFH zoning does not make Atlanta unique. Most cities in the country have similar zoning.

In fact it is preventing some of the very characteristics that make Atlanta what it is, which is the booming capital of the south with a great affordable quality of life. Not to mention literally banning the dense, leafy intown neighborhoods like Ormewood Park from being built in their original character with duplexes and homes close together and minimal parking.

So stop using laws to force your values on others. That is certainly not Atlanta, or at least a part of Atlanta few want to remain.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by samiwas1

Come on, now...use some valid arguments.

Is that your inner corndog speaking?

[bu2]

Originally Posted by jsvh

Exactly why we need a major overhaul of zoning, not just rezoning a few parcels at a time.

And over the long run it works. If you had those patio homes built over the last 40 years, you would have a lot of options. Instead there is just new and pretty old.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by bu2

And over the long run it works. If you had those patio homes built over the last 40 years, you would have a lot of options. Instead there is just new and pretty old.

I assume a patio home is something like a townhouse. If so, zillions of those things have been built in Buckhead over the last 50 years or so. I owned one myself about 35 years ago and liked it a lot.

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by jsvh

Is that your inner corndog speaking?

Well, when you make the argument that even southwest Atlanta is becoming unaffordable because houses over $400k do exist in a small area, you're jumping blue whales, because the sharks aren't big enough.