NOAH stands for Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing and refers to apartments built in the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s.

Because these properties are older, rents in these properties are usually more affordable than new construction but they usually have more square footage per apartment than newer apartments.

In Sandy Springs, the corporate owners of NOAH apartment complexes are renovating them with new exteriors, appliances and carpets and raising the rents 15-35%. This is pricing a lot of our workers out of the city.

An Opportunity Zone is a geographical area where new investments, under certain conditions, may be eligible for preferential government tax treatment; usually these areas are economically challenged needing an economic stimulus.

There are no Opportunity Zones in Sandy Springs.

This term is used to refer to those basic products and services provided by workers who work with their hands, and are essential to our way of life such as restaurants and hospitality; light construction and landscaping; personal care and assisted living; agriculture and poultry; building and maintenance; and facilities services, distribution and logistics.

These positions are hard to fill and cannot be moved overseas. In Georgia, 1 in 4 workers is a member of the essential economy.

That means ¼ of the population needs to have housing that is affordable to these workers.

Part of the challenge in advocating for affordable housing is that the term can mean different things to different people. In general, housing is considered affordable if it cost no more than 30% of a household income.

Right now, Sandy Springs is one of the most expensive housing markets in the metro region. The average two bedroom apartment in Sandy Springs rents for more than $1,400 per month, more than one third of what the best-paid teachers, nurses and first-responders make.

We believe that affordable housing includes homes that make it possible for those who teach our children and serve and protect all of us can afford to live in our community.

When teachers can’t afford to live in the communities where they work, it makes it harder to attract and retain the best teachers for our schools, driving down the overall quality of the education for our children and driving down property values.
We oppose any plan that makes it more attractive to tear down existing affordable housing and displace thousands of Sandy Spring residents who currently call our city home. It makes no sense to tear down housing when it is badly needed for our workforce.

Gentrification is a word that is often used to describe the process of renovating and improving an area so that it conforms to middle-class taste.

One result of this process for many communities can be a shift in racial and ethnic composition. The process can lead to displacement for lower-income families as property values and rental costs rise.