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EDWIN L. STERNE M. B. SATTERFIELD CH AIRMA N EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ANO SECRETARY GEORGE S. CR A FT CARLTON GARRETT VICE CH AI RM AN DIRECTOR OF FINANCE J. B . SLA YTON GILBERT H. BOGGS DIRECTOR OF HOUSING JOHN 0. CHILES GEORGE R . SANDER FRANK G. ETHERIDGE TECHNICAL DIRECTOR 82" HURT BUILDING ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30303 JACKSON 3-6074 May 17, 1967 The Honorable Ivan Allen, Jr. Mayor of the City of Atlanta City Hall Atlanta, Georgia Dear Mayor Allen: This replies to your letter of May 10 transmitting copy of a memorandum submitted by the Housing Resources Committee and requesting our specific comments on items 5, 6 and 9. These comments are as follows: (5) We are unaware of any offers for sale by owners of 103 units on Boulevard resulting from housing code inspections. As a general rule it is not financially feasible to acquire old housing by purchase since necessary financing of the resulting project must extend over a 40 year life. It is preferable to lease units in such buildings since the economics usually do not justify purchase. (6) At the present time negotiations are proceeding concerning the leasing of units in four additional separate sites. We hope t o be able to add to the total number of units now under lease. The great difficulty is the l ow vacancy rate in housing of acceptab l e standard in the Atlanta area, which has resulted in an attitude by most landlords that there is no financial advantage t o them to enter into a lease agreement with the Housing Authority since they already have extensive waiting lists and are n o t having to make improvements that possibly would be required under the Housing Authority leasing program. �Mayor Allen ~age 2 May 17, 1967 The Housing Authority representative is devoting ample time to the investigation of all available leads. All real estate firms listed in the Yellow Pages have been circularized as well as members of the two real estate boards. Constant visual investigations are made in trips to various sections of the city to find out where vacancies might be in existence. The processing of individual tenant leases for occupancy of units in private housing is not greatly time consuming since it only averages about thirty minutes per tenant. It i s considere d very important for the leasing represent a tive to make very frequent checks of existing leased housing to make sure that the public housing tenants are living up to their obligations affecting the care of the premises, etc. If this program can b e controlled so that private landlords see that public housing tenants are better than average tenants this should h a ve a n importa nt impact on t he availabil i ty of addi tiona l units f or l e as e . Althou gh the numb e r of le a s e d sites h a s not increased in the past few weeks, the number of public housing tenants has had a steady growth as dwelling units have become available in pres e nt locati ons. (9 ) Redu c ti on i n minimum p ri ce of sing l e family l o t s fo r sal e in the Thoma sville Urban Redev e lopme nt P ro j ec t b e l ow the ir cu r r ent minimum has been c ons i dered i n t he pas t. The staff is of t h e opinion tha t such reduction would not encourage the deve l opment of t he se lots b e c a use: (a ) The p r ice a s n ow s e t is l e ss t han the value of the lots shoul d t he de v e l oper ac qu i re l and at reasonable price and prov ide the stree t s , utilities , and other ameni ties as provided by this p r o j e ct. (b) The Federal Housi n g Admi nis tra t ion will a ll ow as land valu e onl y the amou nt actual ly paid to us by the deve l oper. Therefore, any redu ction in the price of the land wouldmly res ul t in a redu ct i on in the amount of the loan unde rwritt e n by FHA . At the moment it appears to us the greatest opportunity for provision of additional units for low income famili e s l i e s in �Mayor Allen Page 3 _May 17, 1 967 the 221D-3 Program, and hopefully in increasing the number of units leased for public housing use, although the latter does not increase total housing supply. Sincerely yours, .Lzz- M. B. Satterfield Executive Director MBS/fm �