Affordable housing feels more like a buzz term these days, as metro Atlanta municipalities have followed current Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens’ mission of providing residents affordable housing (there’s that term again). The cost of living in metro Atlanta remains among the highest in the country. The average rent in Atlanta, which includes the northern and southern suburbs of metro Atlanta, is $2,045 per month, according to Zillow.
Something has got to change if everyday working citizens in metro Atlanta are going to be able to afford decent living accommodations at an affordable price.
Marking the gravity of the moment, Larry H. Padilla, chief executive officer of the Decatur Housing Authority, emphasized that the ribbon-cutting was a renewed commitment to the authority’s mission of creating affordable housing. “Today is a celebration, yes. But it must also be a call to action,” he said. Building on his message, Padilla concluded, “Let it be the beginning, not a capstone.”
When phases one and two of construction are completed, the Village at Legacy complex will have 132 one- and two-bedroom units available for rent. With prices ranging from $1,000 to $2,000 per month, Village at Legacy will have some of the most affordable new housing units in the City of Decatur, according to management staff. That is the purpose of this particular apartment complex, according to Padilla, a native of Brooklyn, New York.
“There hasn’t been any new multi-family construction here in quite some time,” he said. “This is the first one that is brand new.”
Padilla told The Atlanta Voice that the City of Decatur bought the 77-acre property on which Village at Legacy is currently being built in 2017. The project is still months away from being completed in part, but the construction is taking place, and affordable housing will be a reality much sooner than later.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for the community to have housing units built that embrace the institution of family,” Rev. Dr. Victor Aloyo, Jr., the president at Columbia Theological Seminary, said.
Aloyo described the City of Decatur’s decision to use what he described as prime real estate—Village at Legacy is off Columbia Drive—for affordable housing as “critical.”
Village at Legacy manager Candace Evans referred to the apartments as “necessary and attainable.”
During a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Village at Legacy, Padilla took a moment to use baseball salary disparities as an example of the salary disparities among everyday people in the City of Decatur. He spoke about employees in his office having to drive two hours one way to get to work because they can’t afford to live in the city where they work.
“This is more than just bricks, beams, and blueprints,” Padilla said. “There is a housing affordability crisis in our country, right here in our backyard.”
Longtime resident and property caretaker Dorsey Nobles, a local celebrity due to his familiarity with the area, has given the apartments his stamp of approval.
“You’re helping people,” he said of the affordable units. “We need to help as many people as we can, but let’s be real about it.”
Asked if he thought local home openers in surrounding subdivisions are happy about the affordable housing and the traffic a huge apartment complex can bring, Dorsey said he speaks to residents all the time.
“I believe they are happy that housing is here,” Dorsey said.
