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Mie Srreof
Count Aiton 724,49 és
' 800 Fannilies: Profit
‘By Leased Housing
Private Kinterprise Erects
Low-Income HUD Apartments
By MARGARET HURST
A clean, modest one-bedroom brick apartment seems nearly
palatial to a retired Atlanta couple who lived, until two years
ago, in an area of the city where “the rats came out every
morning to tell you hello.”
The Leroy Hendersons are one
of 800 low-income families in
Atlanta who have found new
homes through the Leased Hous-
ing program, a department of
the Housing and Urban Develop-
ment (HUD) program that
allows private enterprise to
build and lease housing to the
Atlanta Housing Authority.
Atlanta has the largest leasing
program in the Southeast and
has leased 1,030 units since the
program began in 1965. Leased
hcusing is rented to low income
families and HUD pays the
housing authority the difference
between what the tenant can
afford to pay for rent and the
actual amount the authority
pays to lease the unit from a
private owner.
LESS THAN THIRD
The Hendersons, for example,,
rent their apartment for $23°a
month. Before the housing
authority leased the apartment
complex, the seme apartment
rented for $79 a month.
Atlanta’s leased hoysing is
scattered in eight “locations
over the city. The apartment
complexes have plushy names
like Suburban Court, LaVilla
Apartments, Lakewood Village
and Amanda Gardens and two
of the complexes have swim-
ming pools. The average rent is
v from $30 to $35 a month.
One of the advantages of
leased housing, according to
Morris Bryan, chief of the
Leased Housing section in
HUD’s Atlanta office, is that
the complexes don’t have that
“housing project look” and
many tenants who wouldn't live
in a project will live in the
leased housing.
IT’S “INSTANT”
The Leased Housing program
is called ‘Instant Housing’
because housing authorities can
lease already existing housing—
new or old—and move families
Tight into the unit.
Atlanta needs more three, four |°
and five-bedroom apartments,
according to Ray Braswell,
leased housing manager for the
Atlanta Housing Authority, and
the Leased Housing program can
provide them. In one apartment
complex, he said, the owners
v
spent over $200,000 on renova-
tions, which included combining
two small apartments to make
four- or five-bedrcom units,
The advantage to the private
owner, Braswell said, is that.
he is guaranteed 109 per cent
whether the unit is occupied or
not. Braswell said the authority
does not move families out of
apartments obtained under the:
Leased Housing program, bul
takes over the unit only after
a family leaves.
EVEN LOWER
“Some families, he said, are
allowed to stay in the apart-
ments and rent at a lower rate
if they are qualified to rent
from the housing authority.
Under the Leased Housing
program, local authorities can
lease existing housing fyom pri-
vate owners for one to"10 years.
New housing is leased for five
years with an option for the
private owner to renew the lease
every five years for an addi-
tional 10 years.
By letting private businesses
build, own and lease the prop-
erty, Bryan said, the program
helps the cities (because the
owners continue to pay property
taxes), local lending institutions,
the builders and the low income
tenants.
Bryan said Atlanta and three
other Georgia cities are receiv-
ing in excess of $1 million a year
under the Leased Housing pro-
gram. Carrollton, Hinesville and
Marietta already are participat-
ing in the program, he said, and
East Point, Decatur and De-
Kalb County have gotten con-
tracts within the last 62 days.
Many more Georgia cities Bre
expected to go under contract
within the next 30 to 99- days,
Bryan said.
Count Aiton 724,49 és
' 800 Fannilies: Profit
‘By Leased Housing
Private Kinterprise Erects
Low-Income HUD Apartments
By MARGARET HURST
A clean, modest one-bedroom brick apartment seems nearly
palatial to a retired Atlanta couple who lived, until two years
ago, in an area of the city where “the rats came out every
morning to tell you hello.”
The Leroy Hendersons are one
of 800 low-income families in
Atlanta who have found new
homes through the Leased Hous-
ing program, a department of
the Housing and Urban Develop-
ment (HUD) program that
allows private enterprise to
build and lease housing to the
Atlanta Housing Authority.
Atlanta has the largest leasing
program in the Southeast and
has leased 1,030 units since the
program began in 1965. Leased
hcusing is rented to low income
families and HUD pays the
housing authority the difference
between what the tenant can
afford to pay for rent and the
actual amount the authority
pays to lease the unit from a
private owner.
LESS THAN THIRD
The Hendersons, for example,,
rent their apartment for $23°a
month. Before the housing
authority leased the apartment
complex, the seme apartment
rented for $79 a month.
Atlanta’s leased hoysing is
scattered in eight “locations
over the city. The apartment
complexes have plushy names
like Suburban Court, LaVilla
Apartments, Lakewood Village
and Amanda Gardens and two
of the complexes have swim-
ming pools. The average rent is
v from $30 to $35 a month.
One of the advantages of
leased housing, according to
Morris Bryan, chief of the
Leased Housing section in
HUD’s Atlanta office, is that
the complexes don’t have that
“housing project look” and
many tenants who wouldn't live
in a project will live in the
leased housing.
IT’S “INSTANT”
The Leased Housing program
is called ‘Instant Housing’
because housing authorities can
lease already existing housing—
new or old—and move families
Tight into the unit.
Atlanta needs more three, four |°
and five-bedroom apartments,
according to Ray Braswell,
leased housing manager for the
Atlanta Housing Authority, and
the Leased Housing program can
provide them. In one apartment
complex, he said, the owners
v
spent over $200,000 on renova-
tions, which included combining
two small apartments to make
four- or five-bedrcom units,
The advantage to the private
owner, Braswell said, is that.
he is guaranteed 109 per cent
whether the unit is occupied or
not. Braswell said the authority
does not move families out of
apartments obtained under the:
Leased Housing program, bul
takes over the unit only after
a family leaves.
EVEN LOWER
“Some families, he said, are
allowed to stay in the apart-
ments and rent at a lower rate
if they are qualified to rent
from the housing authority.
Under the Leased Housing
program, local authorities can
lease existing housing fyom pri-
vate owners for one to"10 years.
New housing is leased for five
years with an option for the
private owner to renew the lease
every five years for an addi-
tional 10 years.
By letting private businesses
build, own and lease the prop-
erty, Bryan said, the program
helps the cities (because the
owners continue to pay property
taxes), local lending institutions,
the builders and the low income
tenants.
Bryan said Atlanta and three
other Georgia cities are receiv-
ing in excess of $1 million a year
under the Leased Housing pro-
gram. Carrollton, Hinesville and
Marietta already are participat-
ing in the program, he said, and
East Point, Decatur and De-
Kalb County have gotten con-
tracts within the last 62 days.
Many more Georgia cities Bre
expected to go under contract
within the next 30 to 99- days,
Bryan said.