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MINUTES HOUSING RES:)1.!RC-ii,S COI1ViITTI:E :SXECUTIVC GH.JTJ? NEF.TL ': 1 September 12, 1967 The Executive Group of the Housing Resources Committee met at 10: 00 a.m., September 12, 1967, in Col'Tllu. ttee Room C2, City Hall. The following members were present: Mr. Cecil A. Alexander, Chairman, Housing Resources Committee Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, Co-Chairman, Housin1 ResoLrccs Committee Mr. Archer D. Smith, representing Mr, Charles L. Weltner, Acting Chairman, Legal Panel Mr. Henry L. P.ills, representing Mr. Lee Burge, Chairman, Finance and Non-Profit Funds Panel Mr . John Wilson, member, Finance and .Non-Profit Funds Panel Mr. Charles F. Palmer, representing Mr. Clarence D. Coleman, Chairman, Public Housing Panel Mr, F. C. Terrell, representing Mr. Wallace L. Lee, member, Land Acquisition Panel Dr. Vivian Henderson, Acting Chairman, Land Acquisition Panel Mr. J. A. Alston, member, Land Acquisition Panel Mr. Stewart Wight, member, Land Acquisition Panel ~an Will iams. Jackson, Chairman, Social Problems Panel Mr . Edwards. Simon, Vice-Chairman, Business Participation Panel Mr. Dale Clark, Chairman, Public Information Panel Mr. Malcolm D. Jones, Director Also present at the meeting were : Mr. William S. Holland, Executive Director, CACY.JR Mr. Lester A. Persells, Associate Executive Director, Housing Authority Mr. Alexander opened the meeting 1,ri th comments pertaining to the program and then called on Hr. Jones to present the current status report of the program, Mr. Jones stated that his office was in the process of retyping the low• income housing inventory report but had only the summary ready for this meeting (Item 2 on the agenda and document 2 in the folder which had been presented to Executive Group members). He explained that included in the inventory are apartment units bei~ developed under conventional financing which do not cost more than $10,000 per unit to construct, $12 1 000 for each side of a duylex and $15,000 for a single family house. He explained that the last page of the summary contains notes, rome of which are especially significant. He explained that Item A of the notes gives a comparison of the status of the program on August 31, as compared with the previous report of June 28 and stated that on the whole we hnve lost ground in this program since the previous report two months ago. �2 He then called attention to the extract from the CIP report pertaining to low..income housing requirements (Item 3 on the agenda and in the folder). He also pointed out i:.hat we are not really building low-cost housin~ in public housing but low-income housing. He also explained Item 4(a) on the agenda and the correspondin:·: document in the folder passed out to Committee members, pertaining to available land sui tablJ7 zoned for the low-income housing program. At this point Mr. Alexander explained that Mr. Jones' office was understaffed to handle the statistical data required by the CIP and proposed that from here on out when someone c oes to the Building Department for a permit we should try to r-;et the Per1rri.t Desk to list what the rent on the units will be and number of bedrooms per unit; th2t ther e is no way we can require this legally; and that another thing that we need to do is to c1lso go back to the developers now in the program and get more specific information on their plans. He proposed for this purpose that the City provide a Clerk to the Committee for not less than 3 months. He stated that he felt the structures being built · are reasonably good and that his feelin:.:s a rc that a gr eat deal more interest should be put in the lowest r ental-purchas e ranges; that we can get more in that price range l'rom the prefabricated hou::;ing; tha.t the carrying charges on these per month i s important and we should find out what it is; that to meet the really tough part of the program mea.as goin1 to the City for additional help. He also asked for comments f rom members of the Comr.rittee. Mr. Clark said he would support askin,:; f or more help; that he als o saw a news report f or housing that would rent for 1~50 to $70 per month, under the Farmers Association program; that it is in DeKalb County , and is calle d City Line. Mr. Alexander stated that is a good start to ~et low.cost housing in the counties. Another member stated that the Farmers Associat ion pro=-:ram is also a part of the FHA ~rogram . Mr. Palmer inquired as to the definition of low-cost housing, Mr. Jones replied that it is essentially a matt.er of interpretation. Mr . Alexander s t ated that is was from $0 to $55 per month, Mr . Palmer commented 11 And they want low•income housin13 built under private enterprise?" Mr. Alexander replied it is thought of now primarily as a Turnkey development.. Mr. Jones added "And even Rent Supplement". �3 Mr. Alexander again propose d askin1~ the City f or a Clerk and developing a form f or t he Building Department to get f illed out at the time permits are obtained and. o tated that we will have to talk to Mr. ·woff ord about that. A motion was made that the matter be le f t in Nr. Jones' hands, Mr. Yates seconded it. The matter was droJr) ed there. Mr. Alexander then explained that the roll of this Committee in zoning matters is not an open and shut case as to how to make 1.~ecormnendations to the Boord of Aldermen; that we have been t aking this on as a extracurricular roll to a nsist the developers in this progTam; t hat this has been done in · s everal ins tances, but no members of this Committ ee have been asked to eo around looking at these s ites to r e commend. those which we consider r easonable. Mr. Jones expl ained tha t this i s what he and Mr. Gates have been atteml)ting to do; t hat t hey have been out with the ff,Jons ors and actually looked at most of the sites anc. have only listed anc)_ encouraa;ed thos e which they felt were pr actical and desirabl e, t hat in a s everal instances they have di scourac;ed sponsors f r om submittin:3 s ites ·which they f elt were i mprncticable or unsuitable . Mr. Alexander continued that hie f eel i nG is that wo should t ry to ai d and as sist the builder s i n this progr am but t hat we have no power to chan.:;e what is going on and t hat we a.r e hnvin:~ our pr o )Osal s turned down one by one f or various reas ons . He state d t hat t he approa ch which he f elt we s hould t ake i s to i ssue a general s t at ement about t he housing program, i t s ne eds , and the s hor ta~e of l ancl that is now s uitabl y zoned and t o work t oward gettin3 a rezoning of t he entire City, with due considerat ion for low-income housing needs; that as f or worki ng with the developers we shoul d be gover ned by what we see is a cceptable t o the Board of Aldermen and t ho Building DeiJartment in granting permits; and fur ther t o come to s ome conclusion about t he probl ems . He s t ated that we shoul d al s o hel p t he developers arrange meeti ngs wit h the Aldermen, Departments involved and anyone who wants to t al k to them about deficiencies in Communit y Faci lities rel at ed t o the housing program, which in some i nstances have been lo;:~imate, such as parks, transportati on, traffic, schools etc. He further stated that at the same time t he urgency of this program has seemed to escape some ,eople; that one thing which we also need is to emphasize the requirement for additional low-income housing in the neighboring cities and counties and make it clear that we are not trying to create a haven here in Atlanta for the whole country to come to and move in on this program; that this may happen, but we should try to avoi,'.. it. He stated that the CIP requirement is for replacement of houses and apartments that are unfit for human habitation. He then called upon Mr. Jone s for comments. Mr. Jones stated he feels that it we do not take a position to actively sup:1ort the ('.evelopers who have proposed good proj ccts and which apr,ear~ reasonable, he did not know who would; that he was personally inclined to feel that we can do a service if we as'"a Committee take a ')Osition on such projects; that he docs not think however that mnny arens will be built in the City which already have a surplus of community facilities; that he has hope ,:. that we can sup:)ly facilities such as parks, schools, playgrounds etc •. simultaneous with the development of the housing projects, by relying on other Agencies and other Departmen ~s, �.. I 4 that those details should be chocked into carefully and coordination made to provide these services as adequately as we car . He said th2..t he felt personally that a statement from the Housing nesources Committee on each of the proj ects proposed f or low-income housing would be helpful to the Planning Boai·d and. the Zoning Committee when they make their decisions. He pointed out difficulties which we have had in gettine sites approved up to that point and e:;q_)lained that he and Mr. Gates (the Committee Consultati.t) have attempted to look at each proposed site but have been unable to follow throuBh on all details such as checking on the adequacy of community facilities etc.; that in several instances he and Hr~ Gates have discourn:~ed s uonsors for this reason or that; such as ground too rough, f acilities not availabl e etc. and that as a r esult, several of the sites originally propos ed have nevr;;r come up for re zonin~. He further stated thc:1.t he was inclined to fee l that on those prouosals for Turnkey development that it :would ev2n be Hell for the Planning Board and the Zoning Committee to know whether or not the Housing Authority considered the sites as favor able and suitable. Ono member commented that perhaps the whol e City needs to be rezoned. Mr. Alexander r eplied it seemed to him tha.t we must create additional land through purchases for the city-wide approach; that when the i ndividual developer canes nlong , there should be a body looking to the interest of the whole city and. it ap;Jeared to him that these things have thus far been considered only by the Board of Aldermen; that he wonders whether t his is doing the program the best service? He stated that consulting with the Planning Board is also vcr-.J much in order, presumably. In referring to Item 4(a) on the agenda and the corresponding marked docUii1ent in the fol der , Dr. Henders on inquired if this material is what his Committee had asked f or? Mr . Jones stated that th.is is vhat the Planning Department provided in response to his panel's request; thnt when .;e got it, it came in two f orms: a zoning map of the City with va cant l and areas superimposed on it in orange; and a report of total land in the vari ous zoning cataeories and vacant land by Land Lot and District,. Mr. Jones further explained that the Planning .fupartment is now making a comprehensive Land-Use study to go before the Board of Aldermen with some proposed chnnges in the overall land-use of the City; that he felt the best thing this Committee could do now is t o get its r ~cormnendations presented to tho Planning and Development Committee; that we have a Joint Meeting scheduled for the 29th of September . Mr. Alexander then told Dr. Henderson that he should meet with Mr. Jones to go over the material provided by the Planning J):;partment, but that in trying to resolve this thing we are still short on land and those two should cane up with a proposal, say in September, as to the number of acres needed and its distribution. Dr. Henderson asked approximately how many acres does that involve? �5 Mr. Jones replied that the maximwn ctensity authorized for garden type cpartments is 16 units per acre, but that the Housing Authority has been trying to hold that down to about 12 units per acre. Mr. Pcrsells stated that was correct,; that 3, l.i, J.nd 5 bedroom units, which t~c Housing Authority particularly ne eds, results in reduction of the density below 16 units per a cre. Mr. Jones explained we had one project which has been approved by FHA at 16 units per acre, but it is in an Urban Renewal proj ect; that we had a developer re cently drop a project becrtuse he had boucht the land expecting to develope it at the ma.xi.r.:um authorized density of 16 units per acre and that in preliminary discussions, F'tlA suggested 10 units per acre. Mr. Alexander stated that it is open to debat e about how many total acres would be required.; that our experience to dat e indi cates that no more than 1/3 of the land appropriately zoned actually gets into the low-income housing program, due to turndovms by HUD, FHA, neighborhoods etc.; that to date only about 1/3 of the land zoned has found its way into this program.

tvir. Alexander stated that there ap;)ears to be a need to rez one the City

at large; that there were 51 zoning petitions on the agenda r e cently for one ~co ; ing of the Planning Board. Mr . Jones expl ained that the current z oning was especially planned for

1. ndus try;

th2.t many areas were originally planned but never used as industrial, which development will not occur in the forseeable future, and that the same a~plies to much of the land now zoned residential ( s ingle family development ) whereas tho :immediat e need of the City now is for low-income multi-famil y housing . Mr. Persells explained that the Housing Authority has gone back over the ln.nll to cons5.der additional parcels 1-1hich could be used f or the low-income housing c~tegory where chrmgos seem to be reas onable .

Mr. Alexander stated the builders have claimed that FHA procedures were holdinc them up, that Atlantu is one of the City's in whi ch FHA now claims that it can process an application in l ess than 2 weeks; that this is a change in attitude, but the 221 d (3) proeram does not come within the direct line of FHA 1 s principal insuring policy. Mr. Alexander asked Mr. Clark if the report prepared by Mr. Gates on the accelernted procedure for multi-family processing by FHA could be carried to the press (Item 6 on the agenda, with co~Jies in the folders) Mr. Clark indicated that it would probably be better for this type of announcement to be made by the local FHA office rather than f rom this Cormnittee~ �6 Mr. Alexander then referred to Item 7 on the agenda pertaining to the proposal in the Rent Supplement program to require nonprofit sponsors to put up 5%equity (in effect o. donation); that the reason the attempt to put this thiri~ in, is the theory that if nonprofit sponsors 2re financially imo lved i n the success of their project that they will have more permanent interest in it; that Urban America's feeling is, if this is done the Rent Supplement program will die before it gets nn opportunity to grow; and Urban America has suGgested that those interes ted send telegrams to their Senators ;:ind to Senator Warren Magnuson suggesting thc.:.t this approach of r e(l_uiring the 5% equity will defeat the purpose of the program; that what he would like to do is to get an authorization from the Committee t o sign a t el egram in support of this position and to urr,e consider ation of this matter in the final preparation of the bill. A motion was made by Mr. Palmer, seconded and unanimously c1.dopted asking Mr . Alexander t o senu. such telegrruns to appropriate Senc1.tors. Mr . Clark asked if the 5%o.onation Mr . Alexander s t at ed that it i s nonprof it, sponsor i s not sup.- iosed to and it i s asking too much of him to Mr. Alexancler also sai<l that to gi ve nonprofit proj e cts one can borrow up is what y ou are competing with, in a is a known step or a new development. new; that the thinking i s tha t the be getting any :profit back f rom t he project put up 5%equity donation to the project. tho other si de of it is, that in 221 d (3) to a 102% of the proj ect coGt and this sense. Mr . Per s ells asked Mr . Alexander to explain the 102 ;'{, . Mr. Alexander explained wha t the extra

2% takes care of.

Mr. Alexander again asked f or and r e ceived unanimous cons ent to r equest the City for a Clerk for a t l east 3 months . Mr. Alexander then called for brief reports fr om the Panel Chairmen. Legal Panel - Mr. Archer Smith made a ver y inter esting pre sentation of his case st udy ancJ the s i gnificance of the Shaffer vs . City of Atlanta Housing Code Case, which he announced was coming up f or hear ing the next day. Cons truction and Design Panel - As no one was pr esent to r epresent thi s panel, Mr . Alexander expl aine d a proj e ct which that panel was working on i nvolving Bui lding Codes and a ,S_;rst em s tudy. Finance and Nonprofit Funds Panel - Mr . Alexander expl ained that this panel is working on creat ion of a Honprofit Housing Development Corporation. He also mentioned the favorable comments made at the Urban America Seminar by a local banker pert aining to l oans made through his bank to sponsors of nonprofit projects . �7 Business Participation Panel - Mr. Alexander commented briefly on his recent conference in Washington with Secretary Weaver and FHA Administrator, Brmmstein, pertaining to bringing 11 Big Business" into the low-income housing field. Public Information Panel - Mr. Cl.ark comment ed on the ill-fa ted Brownt01m Road rezoning atte,apt and to a nonprof it sponsor proj ect which is being promoted locally by the Interfaith Group of the Unitarian Universalis t Congregation. Social Problems Panel - fuan Jacksor. explained that the avera:-~e annucl income for Negroes in Atlanta is $3600 and that the number one question is the adequacy of the number of bedrooms in r ental units. Mr. Alexander' then called on :Mr. David T. Edwards , sponsor of a rez onine; petition f or an 18 acre site on the West side of Atlanta, North of Bakers Ferry Roacl, S. W. (IJ, 2h, 14th Dist. FF) to present his proposal ( one of thre e in Item Son the agenda ). Yu-. Edwards made a good and convincing pres ent ation. From questions a sked md comments made by some members of the Committee , the Committee appeared receptive to Mr. Edwards' proposal. Formal action by the Committee however was not called for by the Chairman to endorse this project to the Zoning Committee, as had previously been rc quor.:ted by Mr . Edwards, as well as similar reguests fr om sponsors of two other proj ects which the Committee had previously endorsed to the Planning Board. This was for reas ons explained earlier in the me oting. Subsequently however, the Chuirman of the Planning Board was requested to pass on to the Zoning Committee , with the Planning Boards ' recommendations, a lotter which had previous l y been written by the Committee to the Planning Board endorsing those t wo proj ects. The meeting was adjorncd n.t 12 noon . ,,r · f""7-./' wi/..c::;oe,,• /v,_,,j0 · · ......:)..._. Malcolm D. Jon Supervisor of Inspection Services Encls : Agenda Documents contained in fol der provided every memb0r present (with file copy only) • �