Atlanta’s housing crisis: stop making it worse with bad arguments against growth

[brown_dog_us]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Why can't they people be made comfortable knowing that a school teacher, social worker, restaurant worker, local government employee are living in there? Why does it have to be garage apartment? Why not just an ADU.

From talking to regular people (not involved in development)...

They don't have a problem with school teachers. It's the restaurant workers and anyone who works with their hands.

Everyone seems to love the cute cottage/garage pictures. When they hear what they cost and what they would have to rent for nobody loves them. The most economical ADU is finishing a connected garage, and people don't like that at all. There is a strong negative to finished garages.

Their biggest concern is parking.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Couldn't anyone who works from home be considered live/work by that definition?

"Live/work" is basically pushing pushing single family zoning as far as you can without changing the laws to create a duplex / ADU / commercial space. They have a kitchenette (zoning usually draws the line at have a full second kitchen with oven) and only one door to the rest of the house that can be easily closed off to create a separate space and their own door outside.

The space labeled "studio" below is one of the "live / work" spaces in La France Walk. You can see how it has its own door to the street, and can be easily closed off from the rest of the house to function separately. But legally as zoning is concerned it is still no different than a single family home:



Below, these "storefronts" off of Edgewood Ave are another example of "live / work". They are actually connected to the townhome so it avoids the need / complications of recognizing them as separate units or added costs of making them full commercial which would require very expensive fire separations and sprinkler systems. Other laws would prevent you from operating something like a restaurant here, but you can see how this design could offer advantages for someone wanting to run a home business / rent out a space in their home independently.

[citidata18]

So this is interesting:

https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/..._news_headline

However, there’s a big disparity in housing starts between the northern and southern halves of metro Atlanta.

In North Atlanta (basically everything north of Interstate 20), housing starts plunged 15.6 percent to 3,590 in the fourth quarter, the largest decline since 2011, versus 4,254 in the fourth quarter of 2017. That’s because the lot shortage is concentrated in this area.

In South Atlanta, starts increased by 13.8 percent, to 2,048 units. There are “plenty of lots” in this area and home prices are cheaper, according to Metrostudy.

[citidata18]

Originally Posted by citidata18

So this is interesting:

https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/..._news_headline

The actual study is below:

https://www.metrostudy.com/atlanta-h...nta-different/