Atlanta: Housing and Housing Policy, Essay Example

Introduction

Atlanta’s housing market faces critical challenges in its efforts to remain affordable yet sustain the desired level of growth. In recent years, Atlanta has benefited from the slow economic recovery, as its housing market has rebounded and pricing is increasing at a steady pace (Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, 2013). This is a fortunate series of events for Atlanta residents who have the income and support from community members to purchase these homes, to reduce vacancies and foreclosures, and to contribute to the growth and sustainability of the Atlanta economy. However, this process does not consider the continued need for public housing in the city, which reflects a difficult series of events that emphasize income disparities within the city limits. Nonetheless, Atlanta continues to grow its public housing strategy through new developments and construction projects designed to support those with lower incomes (Husock, 2010). Unfortunately, this strategy may not be beneficial in enabling Atlanta residents to overcome poverty and other related challenges and limit their dependency on government assistance (Husock, 2010).

Analysis

Atlanta’s public housing market continues to grow, which limits the desire of many people living in these homes to improve their lives, due in large part to fixed income requirements and limited motivation to move out of these homes, many of which are new with many amenities and offerings that could otherwise not be achieved (Husock, 2010). Under these conditions, there is little motivation associated with escaping these conditions, particularly when they are favorable for many families, particularly single-parent households with limited resources of their own (Husock, 2010). As a result, many families in Atlanta struggle on many levels, yet live in very nice homes with few requirements (Husock, 2010). This situation demonstrates the need to address the public housing market in Atlanta as both a benefit and a deterrent for many people. Current policies support the growth of the public housing market in many ways so that people are able to take advantage of these opportunities, rather than to rely on other options that could enable them to escape a low-income situation and improve their lives in the process (Husock, 2010). These findings are challenging because they limit the ability of people in Atlanta to achieve improvements within their own lives without public support and assistance. Therefore, it is necessary to address possible improvements in the housing market that will make it affordable for more people to purchase homes independently rather than to rely on public housing as a primary method. Residents in Atlanta should be provided with a number of opportunities to obtain affordable yet stable housing in a manner that is consistent with improving incomes, job creation, and the lives of local residents to achieve their greatest possible potential in this area.

Conclusion

Current approaches to housing in the Atlanta area must be adjusted so that there are opportunities to enable adults to gain greater independence in their living arrangements to support their growth and achievement. This process requires improvements in enabling greater numbers of people to obtain loans, while also keeping housing within the area as affordable as possible. This is an important step towards the discovery of new strategies for improvement that will examine housing affordability in a viable context in order to make the improvements that are necessary to support this process in a successful manner. Atlanta’s housing situation requires a number of modifications in order to improve the potential for greater stability and a variety of important improvements over the long term that have a positive impact on outcomes for local residents.

References

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta (2013). The shape of the housing recovery in Atlanta. Retrieved from http://realestateresearch.frbatlanta.org/rer/2013/07/shape-of-housing-recovery-in-atlanta.html

Husock, H. (2010). Atlanta’s public-housing revolution. City Journal, retrieved from http://www.city-journal.org/2010/20_4_atlanta-public-housing.html