Officials moving 260 families from public housing complex in Augusta

About 260 families will search for new housing as officials plan to sell the public housing complex where they live.

Officials in Augusta plan to sell Gilbert Manor to Medical College of Georgia for an expansion of its campus.

They have begun meeting with residents to explain how the transition will work.

Some residents are questioning how elderly people will get to the doctor, and how the move will potentially affect close to 100 children who may have to find new schools. Gilbert Manor is located next to MCG, making it convenient for residents who make frequent visits to the doctor.

About 200 people packed a community room at Gilbert Manor on Thursday, greeting housing officials with both cheers and jeers. It was their first meeting since the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development okayed a proposed sale to MCG.

Residents have had mixed reactions about the sale, with some seeing it as an opportunity to find better housing while others don't want to leave. Some residents on Thursday accused housing authority officials of rushing the move. The residents have about 90 days to find new housing.

"I feel like they're not giving people the proper information to make the proper decisions. They're sugar-coating everything," said Michael Butler, who has lived at Gilbert Manor for four years.

But housing officials say public transportation is available, and that they're beginning to address the school issue.

The housing authority will also pay for moving expenses and connection fees for utilities, telephone and cable television.

They plan to move the families to other public housing complexes, or give them Section 8 vouchers to use toward private housing.

Economy ups local public housing requests

Georgia's poorest families, hit hard by a slowing economy and shrinking job market, are turning in growing numbers to long waiting lists for public housing and putting new burdens on shelters around the state. From Athens to Albany and beyond, public housing directors say their waiting lists are swelling as jobless households search out alternatives to rent they can no longer afford. Shelters, meanwhile, say they're seeing more families turn up and staying for more than twice the normal period because of a dearth of affordable housing. Macon Housing Authority recently closed the waiting list for one of its 2,216 public housing units. Vacancies in the Albany Housing Authority's 1,085 public housing units have dipped from past highs around 5 percent. And in metro Augusta, while families aren't pouring into public housing, officials say they also aren't leaving. Macon housing director John Hiscox says people are having a hard time finding jobs and it's impacting their housing situations.

(Associated Press)

Nat'l Fair Housing Comm. calls for better enforcement

Forty years after lawmakers targeted some of the last bastions of segregation - American communities - a national commission met today in Atlanta to discuss whether federal officials have failed to ensure equal housing opportunities.

The bipartisan National Fair Housing Commission's daylong meeting at Morehouse College Friday concludes a three-month investigation into enforcement of fair housing laws.

Today’s meeting focused on fair lending practices amid the nationwide foreclosure crisis.

Shanna Smith is president and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance:

“Over the last 40 years, we have failed as a government, as states, as local communities, to enforce the fair housing laws and to promote social integration.”

Henry Cisneros, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 1993 to 1997, under President Clinton chaired the morning session.

Cisneros says that a comprehensive solution may be necessary for the Atlanta area:

“This is a metropolitan area that needs to function as a whole, and it may be necessary to think in regional solutions that involve all of the counties, excepting some fair share of responsibility for creating economic opportunities.”

The panel, chaired by Henry Cisneros (center), former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development hear testimony at the morning session, held at Morehouse College, Atlanta on Friday, Oct. 17th, 2008. (Dave Bender)

The commission previously convened in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and Boston.

A December report will outline recommendations to strengthen housing laws.

(With The Associated Press)

Click here for more GPB News coverage of housing issues.

Public housing residents may lose home to medical school expansion

Residents of a public housing facility in eastern Georgia may lose their home soon.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Friday okayed a proposed sale of the apartments to the Medical College of Georgia for a planned expansion.

The deal means the city of Augusta will have to move about 260 families out of Gilbert Manor Apartments by April. The move has to happen before the property is sold.

MCG plans to build a new dental school there and buildings that will house some of the school's core programs. Officials also say the property may eventually house additional buildings for research, technology transfer and economic development.

Residents have mixed feelings about the move.

Keisha Tanksley has lived in the public housing complex for five years and wants to see it go.

"This place is old and worn out. It’s a better opportunity for people who want to move...get out of the hood, the project," she said.

Gilbert Manor has no central heat or air conditioning. It was built in 1941.

Officials say renovating it would cost too much.

The deal is expected to cost M-C-G about $6.9 million.

Officials will use the money to build communities that will house people of varying incomes.

For now, they’ll move the residents into other public housing. Other tenants will receive vouchers to help pay for homes that are not in public housing complexes.

But some residents don’t want to leave.

They’re considering litigation to try and stop the sale.

The deal, meanwhile, has no bearing on whether MCG will open a branch campus in Athens.

The school is currently reviewing its expansion options, which has caused some political controversy. Governor Sonny Perdue (R) wants the Athens campus, while politicians from the area want to see expansion in Augusta. They fear expansion elsewhere will mean a cut in revenue and economic development opportunities.

MCG's president, Dan Rahn, suggested Friday that there is room to grow both in Augusta and elsewhere.

"We need to maximize what we can do here on our home campus and also engage in partnerships around the state in order to provide the best education for the future doctors of the state," said Rahn.

MCG officials will make their recommendations on expansion to the state Board of Regents on January 15.

ATL Demolishes Last of Large Public Housing

During the Great Depression, Atlanta was the first city to build public housing. Today, it took a step towards becoming the first major city to completely eliminate it. A demolition crew began tearing down the city’s last large public housing project called Bowen Homes.

When Bowen was created 45 years ago, it started as a model development, but later become an enclave of poverty, drugs and crime.

Renee Glover, the president of the Atlanta Housing Authority, says, "On reflection, there's no question that this is the right direction, and Atlanta, the families will be the better for it."

Bowen's 900 former residents have found new housing. Most use a voucher system where they pay the same as they did when they lived here.

Today’s demolition is symbolic of what’s happening with public housing in major cities across the state. It’s a national effort to get rid of large stacks of rows upon rows of the 1960’s buildings and to create mixed income developments in their place. Georgia is one of the pioneers in this effort. Atlanta wants to be the first to do away with all of them by 2010.

Historic Public Housing Demolition

Atlanta Housing Authority officials have set a date to begin demolishing the last of the city's large public housing developments. Officials will begin the first phase of the demolition of Bowen Homes next week. Officials will mark the occasion with a ceremony on June 3. The destruction is part of a city plan to erase concentrated poverty by demolishing what officials say have become crime-infested public housing developments. Atlanta was the first city in the nation to create public housing during the Great Depression. The city is on course to become, in 2010, the first to have eliminated all of its large public housing projects.

(Associated Press)

Housing Authority Lawsuit

Attorney's for the Macon Housing Authority are filing a petition with the Georgia Supreme Court to settle a dispute with the city's former mayor. The outcome could affect communities across the state.

At issue is whether the mayor has absolute power to control who sits on the board of the housing authority. The board controls more than 35-million dollars in federal money and close to 150-million dollars in real estate.

The lawsuit erupted after former Mayor Jack Ellis tried to seat new board members without approval from city council. The Macon City Council has been approving appointments for nearly 70 years. But the State Court of Appeals has ruled that is not necessary.

Housing Authority attorney Steve Dillard says the lawsuit has statewide implications.

"It opens the door to mayors being able to use housing authority boards for their political purposes. And that's a shame because in the past these have not been political entities. It would be tragic if the Court of Appeals decision were allowed to stand."

The lawsuit has cost the housing authority close to a quarter-million dollars.

Homeless to get $7 M in state aid

The State of Georgia is giving over $7 million dollars in state and federal funds to help Georgia's homeless. Officials at the Department of Community Affairs say 181 agencies throughout the state will get the funds.

The monies are to support running and development costs, and will cover a wide range of related housing support services.

Don Watt, director of the DCA's office of housing and special initiatives says the aid,

..."will fund both operations and services of emergency shelters and transitional housing facilities."

10 homeless and health care organizations in Columbus, Americus and Butler will get over 300,000 dollars of the state and federal assistance.

In Columbus, Kim Elise Jenkins of the Open Door Community House says the aid will go for homeless women:

“The money that we receive from the Department of Community Affairs and the Department of Housing and Urban Development all go to help the case management program and the DCA money specifically goes to help us provide housing, food and supportive services for homeless women who live with us here in our transitional facility.”

Jenkins says their ultimate goal is to provide the women with sustainable income and permanent housing.

Shooting by deputies in Augusta angers crowds

The shooting of a man by sheriff's deputies at an Augusta public housing complex has prompted area residents to confront law enforcement officials at least twice.

Deputies shot and critically injured Justin Elmore when he apparently rammed his vehicle into their patrol cars. Officials say the shooting happened in self-defense. Witnesses, many who lived in the Cherry Tree Crossing housing project where the shooting happened, have a different story. They say they believe Elmore was not trying to kill or injure the deputies.

An angry mob, some say as many as 200 people, confronted deputies at Cherry Tree after the shooting on Sunday, throwing rocks and bottles, setting dumpster fires and hurling insults. Elmore died on Tuesday, and another confrontation with law enforcement officials followed that evening at a candlelight vigil in his memory. Officials say four people were arrested for disorderly conduct at the vigil.

Protests often follow police shootings, but the one at Cherry Tree was particularly intense. Even though Elmore didn't live at the complex, he had friends there and was very popular, which may partly explain the crowd's actions. Several Cherry Tree residents either saw the shooting or heard the shots and believe Elmore was innocent.

Officials with the Augusta Housing Authority say the two officers involved in the shooting were among 12-15 Richmond County sheriff's deputies assigned solely to public housing complexes in the city. They say this arrangement has existed for about ten years, and that residents of the complexes have previously told authority officials that they feel more secure with the increased police presence.

Officials with the Richmond County sheriff's department, meanwhile, did not return phone calls seeking comment about the shooting or the confrontations. But Sheriff Ronnie Strength has said it appears the officers acted appropriately.

Meanwhile, housing officials said Wednesday that it appears the situation at Cherry Tree has calmed down. State patrol officers were among law enforcement authorities patrolling the complex.

The shooting is still under investigation.

Chambliss attacks Air Force over housing problems

Prompted by a military housing scandal in Georgia Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss is joining the fight to fix the problem. Chambliss is among eight U.S. Senators who have sent a letter to the Air Force.

The letter criticizes the Air Force’s oversight of housing privatization projects at bases in Arkansas, Florida, Massachusetts, and at Moody Air Force base near Valdosta. The letter says poor management has led the projects to be delayed or halted for moths at time, and that they are tens of millions of dollars over budget. The Senators say local communities are “traumatized” and that military families deserve better.

At Georgia’s Moody Air Force Base, 400 homes were supposed to be built for military families, but only two are completed. Chambliss is set to co-sponsor legislation this week to enhance oversight of how the military picks private contractors for housing projects.

Fed money to help public housing computer access

Over $400,000 in federal grant money is on the way to a pair of public housing authorities in Georgia--its aim is to help get better computer and internet access to those residents. Carrollton’s housing authority will get $150,000--an authority in Gainesville $300,000. The funding is part of the federal Public Housing Neighborhood Network Program. The money on the way to Georgia is part of more than 10-million dollars in grants distributed across the country.

Housing bust could to be a boom for some

First-time homebuyers could benefit from the down economy. Recent federal legislation proposes a 75-hundred tax credit for new homes purchased before 2009. And, experts say a spike in home sales could be just the economic stimulus needed to jump start Georgia's economy.

Roger Tutterow is a professor of economics at Mercer University. Addressing a group of real estate professionals in Atlanta today, Tutterow called the health of metro-Atlanta’s real estate market an economic indicator for the rest of the state.

“The housing is particularly important to the state of Georgia because we have a lot of industries in the building supply, wood products sector, that are all related to the housing industry. As goes housing goes the health of these industries, as well.”

In the meantime, Georgia remains among the top 10 states with the highest foreclosure rates. Realty-Trac … the website which tracks foreclosure rates nationwide … reports that year to date foreclosure filings in Georgia are up to nearly 53-thousand.

Housing crisis: JCB lays off Savannah workers

Construction equipment manufacturer J.C.B. is laying off 120 employees in a sign that the housing crisis continues to drag down Georgia's economy. It's the latest in a series of blows to southeast Georgia's jobless rates.

Savannah is the North American headquarters for J.C.B., a British company that makes backhoes and other construction equipment. The layoffs take employment at the Savannah plant down to about 400. Company spokeswoman Karen Guinn says, J.C.B. had to take action since orders are down about 20%.

"Our business is very heavily reliant on the housing industry and with that hitting a 17-year low, it's had a pretty significant impact on our business," Guinn says. J.C.B. has no plans to close the plant, she says.

The news comes days after trailer maker Great Dane said it would close its Savannah plant, idling 270 workers. Labor officials said this week that 1,400 workers in Savannah's 3-county metro filed initial unemployment claims last month, a spike of 62% over the same month last year.

Augusta GOP officials resigns over email

A Republican Party official has resigned from the Augusta housing authority board after fallout from an e-mail in which he appeared to endorse "making the downtown whiter." Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver says Dave Barbee resigned from the Augusta Housing Authority effective Sunday. A release from Copenhaver's office says Barbee expressed "sincere regret" for poor wording in the Aug. 7 e-mail - which urged developers to support a plan to shut down a public housing development and replace it with "high income folks who will tend to be White." Barbee is the GOP's chairman for the Tenth Congressional District. Party officials say he has not been asked to step down from that position. (Source: Associated Press)

Lawsuit against grower upheld

A federal appeals court has upheld part of a ruling that a Florida tomato grower failed to provide adequate housing for migrant workers but overturned a major section. A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Friday Ag-Mart Produce should have clearly posted the housing terms. But the panel disagreed with a lower court that Ag-Mart controlled the motels where the workers were housed. Last year, a federal judge in Jacksonville ruled for hundreds of farm workers, ordering Ag-Mart to pay them $500,000 in damages. The case was the first of several similar worker lawsuits. Adams said Ag-Mart violated federal law because it did not ensure its crew leaders provided proper housing during the 2001 and 2002.

(Associated Press)

A buyer's market at the home foreclosure auction

Georgia housing forclosures, as of August, 2008. (Courtesy RealtyTrac.com)

While housing market hard times mean foreclosure for many, it also means bargains for home buyers and real estate agents.


Potential home buyer holds up sign with the catalog number of the home he's interested in, as the auctioneer, standing before a slide image of the home, rapidly calls out the fast-rising price at a home foreclosure auction at the Cobb Galleria, Atlanta, Oct. 19, 2008. (Dave Bender)

Auctioneer Mike Carr's machine-gun delivery is music to the ears of some two thousand anxious homebuyers and agents, who crowded into the Cobb Galleria Convention center Sunday morning.


Nicole Brown, a real estate investor from Dallas, Ga., at the home foreclosure auction, held at the Cobb Galleria, Atlanta, Oct. 19, 2008. (Dave Bender)

Nicole Brown, a real estate investor from Dallas, Georgia says her $73,000 bid netted her a three bedroom, two bath home:

“This was my first time with an auction; it's very overwhelming, but it's worth the trip.”

It was a trek made by potential buyers from cities and towns across the state.

Kamal Chopra of Alpharetta is looking for a house as an investment, but says it's hard to keep up with the auctioneer's rocket-fast patter:

“It's a different experience – it's too loud for me, i guess, and it's a little confusing for me, the way he's talking. but it's still very exciting, i guess – I'm enjoying it.”

Part of that enjoyment is that it's a buyer's market: Realtytrac.com reports that, as of August, Fulton County led the state foreclosure rate with one in every 267 homes on the block.


Two potential home buyers inspect a catalog of properties, as they watch the auction at the Cobb Galleria, Atlanta, Oct. 19, 2008. (Dave Bender)


Mary Quella, the vice president of the Real Estate Disposition Corporation, at a home foreclosure auction held at the Cobb Galleria, Atlanta, Oct. 19, 2008. (Dave Bender)

Mary Quella is from the Real Estate Disposition Corporation, who are holding the auction:

“We have people here that are buying homes for $30 – 40,000 dollars, that a couple years ago were going for $160,000 plus dollars.”

And at those kind of prices, Quella hopes the the series of auctions in metro Atlanta will sell off 1,100 homes.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the housing market.

FEMA: breakdown of GA emergency aid

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reports that $27,968,851 million in federal and state assistance has been approved by their organization and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) to help eligible individuals, communities and counties recover from the March 1st twister and other storms that have ripped through Georgia.

Counties affected or aided include Baker, Clay, Crawford, Hancock, McDuffie, Mitchell, Muscogee, Stewart, Sumter, Taylor, Warren, Webster and Wilkinson counties, according to FEMA's latest update. Federal aid approved as of August 29, 2007 includes:

• $1,323,054 in disaster assistance has been approved through the Individuals and Households Program:
  
  
• $875,520 has been approved for Housing Assistance. This includes temporary disaster housing and help in restoring uninsured homes that were made unsafe, unsanitary or non-functional.
• $447,534 in disaster assistance has been approved for Other Needs Assistance (ONA). ONA awards are for disaster-related necessary expenses and serious needs such as medical or dental expenses; funeral expenses; moving and storage; transportation costs; and the repair or replacement of household appliances, clothing and necessary educational materials.
  
  
• $9,599,900 in loans has been approved by the SBA for homeowners, renters and businesses:
• $5,588,300 in loans for homeowners and renters.
• $4,011,600 in business loans.
• $93,235 in Disaster Unemployment Insurance has been disbursed.
• $16,952,662.23 in Public Assistance funds has been obligated.
• $ 2,463,344.34 state obligated
• $14,489,317.89 FEMA obligated

A county-by-county summary of Individual and Household Program assistance follows:

Georgia Tornado and Severe Storms Recovery
Individual and Household Program: HA - Housing Assistance ONA - Other Needs Assistance as of 8/29/07
County	HA Amount	ONA Amount	Total Individual Assistance
Baker	$120,988.24	$54,715.43	$175,703.67
Crawford	$29,255.99	$4,391.52	$33,647.51
Dougherty	$58,042.16	$1,711.86	$59,754.02
McDuffie	$67,617.17	$47,142.07	$114,759.24
Mitchell	$66,045.05	$3,104.73	$69,149.78
Sumter	$313,717.04	$303,929.71	$617,646.75
Taylor	$34,449.02	$11,756.77	$46,205.79
Warren	$80,365.47	$350.00	$80,715.47
Worth	$105,039.80	$20,432.09	$125,471.89
TOTAL	$875,519.94	$447,534.18	$1,323,054.12

More GPB News coverage of FEMA/GEMA funding, and where much of it is went is here.

Albany included in nat'l poverty study

A national study examining concentrated poverty nationwide includes a glimpse of Albany. The Brookings Institution detailed its findings Friday in "The Enduring Challenge of Concentrated Poverty in America," a two-year study that profiles 16 high-poverty communities. The study included larger cities, like Miami, down to smaller areas like the eastern region of Albany. The report describes an area with no major commercial or real estate development and few social services, where 90 percent of the money made is spent outside the region, and where year 2000 statistics showed a 45 percent poverty rate. The report says signs of improvement include new subsidized housing - though some national housing experts blame public housing enclaves for concentrating poverty.

(Associated Press)

Expos Aim To Spur Georgia Business, Housing Industries

Navigating a tough economy in the world of small business and the housing industry is the focus of a series of expos running through Saturday.

The events are designed as a type of one-stop shopping for entrepreneurs, realtors and bankers, among others. Organized by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, the aim is to connect those groups with the latest information and tools from the local, state, and federal levels.

Yancey Gulley is with Athens Technical College, one of several schools hosting the expos:

"There will be booths from small business, government to government assistance, and housing assistance. And then throughout the day, we’ll have workshops going on as well."

Athens Tech, along with tech schools in Atlanta and Calhoun are staging expos Saturday from 9-to-5. Events are wrapping-up today in Warner Robins, Hinesville, and Albany.

Group Offers Soldiers Low-Cost Housing Loans

"Soldiers who protect the American dream can now get help buying into the American dream," according to a Columbus housing association.

NeighborWorks Columbus, a local organization that supports low-cost housing, says the organization's new Hallock Soldiers Fund offers counseling, down-payment assistance and low-interest loans.

NeighborWorks President Kathy Williams says the aid is specifically aimed at Ft. Benning personnel:

"We're trying to assist the lower-ranking soldier families, especially those who are going to be coming to Ft. Benning through the BRAC process. moving around from base-to-base for soldiers can often create for soldiers, obstacles to home ownership... it gives them an opportunity to really be able to invest in the community and build an asset for their family.”

Williams says none of the 483 Columbus residents who have taken part in the Neighborworks assistance program in the last five years have fallen into foreclosure.

Military homebuyers who have utilized the fund, NeighborWorks and Ft. Benning officials will be available for details at a press conference on-post on Friday at 1:30 pm. The event will be held at 7371 Ingersoll Street.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of Ft. Benning and the BRAC realignment.