ATLANTA (May 30, 2011) – The Atlanta Housing Authority's (AHA) demolition of obsolete housing projects and the construction of 16 new mixed-income, mixed-use communities has had a $1.67 billion economic impact on the city and has created more than 15,800 "person-years" of new jobs since demolition began about 12 years ago , according to a just-completed study by Georgia State University economist Bruce Seaman.
Moreover, the City of Atlanta has directly benefited from $14.7 million in sales tax revenue generated by AHA's revitalization projects, Seaman reported.
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Seaman's study focuses on the household spending and construction impacts of the underlying economic transformation in Atlanta that has resulted from AHA's community revitalization work. AHA on Feb. 27 demolished Roosevelt House and started demolition on Palmer House, the final two housing projects slated for razing. Atlanta in the 1930s was the first city to build federally financed public housing, and in recent months it has become the first major city to eliminate all of its large family housing projects.
A number of studies have documented the impacts on families leaving projects (see here). And there is evidence that removing the projects and the blight surrounding them has reduced crime in Atlanta and spurred economic development. However, an attempt to calculate specific aspects of the aggregate economic impact across multiple revitalized communities had not been made until the Seaman study. A fuller analysis of the complex "spillover" benefits throughout the city has not yet been completed.
Among the major findings by Seaman:
*Aggregate household spending in Atlanta increased by almost $166 million over a 12-year period as a result of the redevelopments.
*The construction investment impact on the city was more than $1.5 billion.
The combined household spending and construction investment impact was close to $1.7 billion.
*The wage and salary earnings of families attracted to the mixed-income communities, as well as the incomes generated during the construction of the new communities, was almost $774 million.
*Household relocation into Atlanta because of the revitalized communities plus construction employment created 15,840 "person-years" of jobs over a 12-year period, or an average of 1,320 "person-years" of jobs held for each of 12 years.
Seaman is a recognized expert in this field, having published widely cited and reprinted papers and book chapters on the methodology of economic and fiscal impact studies. He has conducted studies on a variety of topics, including the Georgia Aquarium, the New World of Coca-Cola Museum, the Atlanta Beltline Project, the Georgia World Congress Center, runway expansions of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, terminal expansions linked to the Port of Savannah, Lake Lanier, the National Endowment for the Arts, and has developed widely used models on behalf of the Georgia Department of Economic Development and the Georgia Council for the Arts. He is currently working on a project for the Atlanta Braves.
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2 comments:
While perhaps a step forward at the time, the large-scale public housing projects certainly have been a failure in the U.S. It's good to see Atlanta taking the lead not only on completing its demolition of these projects, but also in attempting to calculate the economic and social impacts of redeveloped mixed-income developments.
Mixing incomes and land uses creates self-balancing communities, rather than isolating the poor with others lacking in the kinds of skills and networks that land people in good jobs.
Where did the original occupants go?
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