Metro Atlanta is on a sizzling streak.
More than 6 million individuals now stay within the area, in line with latest Census Bureau estimates. Experts say that is a couple of 50% enhance from 20 years in the past.
“It’s a huge increase in population,” stated Dan Immergluck, a professor of city research at Georgia State University. “That has taxed the region environmentally.”
Financial and tech companies proceed to flock towards metro Atlanta. This builds on the town’s sturdy logistics, leisure and movie, and well being providers industries.
Demand for high quality housing within the area has turn into fierce, notably within the metropolis middle.
“Atlanta is becoming a wider city,” stated Nathaniel Smith, founder and chief fairness officer on the Partnership for Southern Equity. “Now, whether we’ll be able to kind of balance that out and ensure that, you know, black folks don’t get pushed out … I’m not sure.”
In September 2022, the median residence within the metropolis of Atlanta was valued at about $400,000, in line with Zillow’s Home Values Index. That worth could be out of attain for the standard family within the metropolis of Atlanta, which made about $64,179 yearly in recent times. Rents even have ticked above the nationwide median.
Some Atlanta locals consider formidable city redevelopment tasks, such because the BeltLine, have contributed to fast-rising costs within the space.
The BeltLine is a 22-mile loop of strolling and biking trails constructed largely on deserted rail traces and developed as a public-private partnership.
It was supposed to attach totally different neighborhoods within the metropolis with one another and to create, alongside the trail, walkable communities the place residents may entry a wide range of providers with no need a automotive.
“We’ve put about $700 million into the BeltLine to date,” stated Atlanta BeltLine Inc. CEO Clyde Higgs. “What we’ve seen is roughly an $8 billion private investment that has followed the BeltLine. That has caused a number of good things and also a number of pressures within the city of Atlanta.”
While the area evolves, a raft of neighborhood organizers are launching efforts to protect housing affordability.
“It would have been great if we had an opportunity to secure more land earlier in the life of the BeltLine,” stated Amanda Rhein, govt director of the Atlanta Land Trust, “because property values continue to increase in close proximity to the project.”
Watch the video to see how Atlanta plans to protect housing affordability amid fast progress.