Vine City Renaissance coming? (Atlanta: for sale, apartment, foreclosure)

[cqholt]

Vine City Residents are Working Toward Renaissance - Curbed Atlanta

It’s a neighborhood that, for the last 10 years, has been on the fringe of some of the biggest development in the city, but hasn’t seen much positive impact as a result.

That is because GWCC cuts off the area from Downtown, open the grid and reconnect the neighborhood to Downtown.

The housing program isn’t the only physical sign of change in the neighborhood, however.

Efforts to provide more usable green space have come to fruition in the neighborhood, as with Vine City Park. Community members came forward to propose the space back in 2005, and after an arduous three-year process, opened the space to the public. The space was so successful that it took over a nearby, abandoned apartment building (see above), which was torn down for expansion.

The ribbon-cutting for the second phase of the park is this Thursday.

This is a great idea and good way to remove blight and add greenspace.

[residinghere2007]

In regards to the Invest Atlanta program, it is not a new idea. It is an old program which was just renamed as something else.

When I moved to English Avenue in 2007 (hence the name) there was a program for both Vine City and English Avenue that was basically the same as the "Vine City Renaissance" program, back when Invest Atlanta was called the Atlanta Development Authority - ADA.

The ADA program IMO was better being that it offered more incentives to move in the neighborhood (we received a $30k down payment assistance from it along with $10k form the Georgia Dream program via the state so a total of $40k instead of $10k only through this new program from Invest Atlanta).

However, the ADA program and this Invest Atlanta program has a ton of pitfalls that will not pan out or encourage enough people to move to the neighborhood.

If you review the home criteria for the Vine City Renaissance program, it states that the homes have to be FHA, VA, or conventional loan approved (by IA's participating lenders). On the surface that doesn't look like a lot to overcome, but due to the majority of the 40% abandoned homes in the neighborhoods (Vine City and English Avenue) being in need of SERIOUS renovation and having all sorts of vandalism properties, they do not qualify for FHA or VA loans to any wide degree and most conventional loans as well. One would need to include renovation funds.

I do think it will help to sell out all the newer developments, like the one near the Walmart on MLK but in regards to the other single family/detached homes, it will not make much of a dent.

The program we utilized offered WAY more incentives, yet it was a failure.

And FWIW, we also ran into issues when we purchased our home. It was newer construction at the time (built 2005 and purchased by us in 2007) but it had been vandalized of copper and HVAC systems. We were not using an FHA loan and we got the owner (which was a bank at the time as the home was a bank foreclosure) to write a statement/affidavit that they would provide us the money to fix the home's electrical and HVAC system after closing. They had to send us a check that we had to provide to the ADA and the state of Georgia in order to get the down payment grant.

Not too many banks today will pay for the repairs if they own the home. Also many of the homes sitting vacant are not for sale anyway and IMO need to be taken by the city and sold to the public for taxes, but CoA is VERY hesitant in doing this for some reason and is content to let these homes sit and rot until a kid is raped in one or dead bodies are discovered, then all of the sudden they'll get moved up on the demo list (maybe).

So IMO this will not be a successful plan. IMO the city needs to take a much more active roll in the "renaissance." They can do this by (and this is not a new plan, I was involved in the neighborhood's many community groups and NPU and these were brought forth as solutions)

Declaring specific abandoned homes (or groups of abandoned homes) as slums (Georgia has laws on the books that allow this to occur and for the city to demolish slum homes and redevelop those lands)

The can institute a program modeled after other places in the country via Invest Atlanta that allow rehab funds as loans or grants to assist new homeowners or investors in fixing up properties.

They can remodel the Code Enforcement department to actually enforce the city codes in regards to grass height and open and/or vacant properties whereas if there is no remedy after 3 months, the city can take over the home and sell it or demolish it.

IMO Atlanta also needs to create a Land Bank. Land Banks have proven successful nationwide in regards to assisting in reducing blight in particular.

In particular they need to focus on demolishing the many abandoned apartment communities in Vine City/English Avenue. Those being labeled as a slum and redeveloped would be boosts for the neighborhoods and can be easily done if the city legislature actually takes a more proactive role in revitalizing these neighborhoods.

Sorry the post is so long but it is just crazy to me that they are basically just re-doing a program that didn't work to any wide degree. I say this as someone who used the old program. FWIW, I wouldn't see the benefit of the new program and wouldn't have purchased in English Avenue with only $10k down payment assistance. The $30-$40k is what made us look at both Vine City and English Avenue and FWIW we looked at over 10 homes there and all of them were deemed ineligible by the ADA (now Invest Atlanta) due to issues with vandalism and too many repairs needed to the home. We actually had to work out the deal I mentioned above ourselves and got no help from ADA at the time with that. They actually were trying to not give us the $30k and we had to go back and forth with them for 2 months.

[cqholt]

Vine City Park getting upgrade that debuts tomorrow.
Spruced-Up Vine City Park Ribbon-Cutting is Tomorrow - Curbed Atlanta

[travbo]

The #1 thing that Atlanta (and all cities with similar programs) could do to improve areas like Vine City is increase the 2 person household income limit by about 25k. The current 2 person household income limit is $75,600.

[cqholt]

The long revival | Cover Story | Creative Loafing Atlanta

[onemanarmy]

Originally Posted by travbo

The #1 thing that Atlanta (and all cities with similar programs) could do to improve areas like Vine City is increase the 2 person household income limit by about 25k. The current 2 person household income limit is $75,600.

I understand where you are coming from, but there has to be a balance. I think the goal is create a place for working class folks. A family of 2 making 106k, is more likely college educated and probably not working class. I would think raising it for 106k and having an age qualifier would work, because having a 2 person household with no age requirement would be ripe for DINKS and young couples. These are the folks people most complain about in gentrification.

[CashmereEsquire]

Originally Posted by onemanarmy

I understand where you are coming from, but there has to be a balance. I think the goal is create a place for working class folks. A family of 2 making 106k, is more likely college educated and probably not working class. I would think raising it for 106k and having an age qualifier would work, because having a 2 person household with no age requirement would be ripe for DINKS and young couples. These are the folks people most complain about in gentrification.

What does "DINKS" mean?

[bryan85]

I worked there in the late 1980's, and it was a hellhole. I'm white, so I really stood out. It was an experience, to say the least!

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by CashmereEsquire

What does "DINKS" mean?

Dual Income No Kids

[matilda79]

I see Residing Here 2007's point. Demolition of the worst properties is probably a good first start. It is expensive to do this, so I totally get it. I live on the South side of the city, in an area with many crumbling housing projects that no one has plans to do anything about anytime soon. No one is going to move into or next to those areas. Ever. Frustrating.

However, when you try to box people into certain "programs," with income caps and age requirements, those who participate are forced to deal with much red tape (Residing2007, hats off to you for sticking it out, seriously), and you also inadvertently create a certain mono-culture. These sorts of solutions do not work long term, and do no favors for say, struggling school systems OR long-term residents who could be displaced.

I don't have a great solution, but the program that Residing2007 described sounds like a nightmare. All I can think of is to design a system where builders don't build just McMansions on the demolished property land, but home sizes that suit different family sizes (some 5x3 homes and some 3x2 townhomes). It's really complicated, I know this, and for the average capitalist out there, seems pretty unfair. You will have winners and losers regardless of what system is in place.