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our
mission
Our
mission is to promote, create and preserve mixed income
communities through direct development, lending,
policy research and advocacy that result in the
equitable distribution of affordable housing
throughout the metropolitan Atlanta region.
housing
development
Developing and preserving environmentally sustainable, mixed
income communities with area partners.
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housing
finance
Lending to builders of affordable and mixed
income housing communities in metro Atlanta
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research and
advocacy
Changing public policy to support the
preservation and creation of mixed income
communities
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Media Inquiries
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In The News
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Media Releases
Media Inquiries
The Atlanta Neighborhood
Development Partnership, Inc. (ANDP) values the assistance of news
media to help tell the mixed income, affordable housing story. Our
revamped web site should answer many of your questions. For more
details, or to speak to an ANDP representative, please see contact
information below.
George S. Burgan
Senior Manager of Marketing & Communications
(404) 420-1583 - Direct
(678) 358-4427 - Cell
gburgan@andpi.org
In The News
AJC Exclusive
Property owners were overcharged
Areas with most
foreclosures overpaid even more
By
Michelle E. Shaw
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
4:39 a.m. Thursday, February 18, 2010
Briana Henry-Frisby and Rae Anne Harkness both
own homes in DeKalb County, and both suspect
they’re paying too much in property taxes. The
fact that both work in the DeKalb tax
commissioner’s office doesn’t actually help.
“Now is not the time to leave any money laying
on the table, or anywhere,” Henry-Frisby said.
But she may well be leaving behind a tidy pile
of cash when it comes to property taxes.
A report to be released today concludes that
property owners in the five core metro Atlanta
counties overpaid their property taxes by an
average of $244 in 2009. And people who live in
areas hard hit by foreclosures, as do Henry-Frisby
and Harkness, overpaid by even more, says an
analysis commissioned by the Atlanta
Neighborhood Development Partnership.
AJC findings confirmed
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in December
reported that tens of thousands of homes across
metro Atlanta were overvalued last year by
county tax assessors, who didn’t adjust values
sufficiently after the historic real estate
collapse. Homeowners, the newspaper reported,
were being taxed on values their property no
longer held. The report today tends to confirm
the AJC’s findings and also, for the first time,
calculates an average overpayment.
John O’Callaghan, ANDP president, said the
report focuses on property tax values from 2009
for neighborhoods with the highest foreclosure
rates in metro Atlanta.
“What this does is give a picture of the average
homeowner,” he said. “Some are underpaying and
others are overpaying by a larger margin. We
hope this data and research will lead to changes
in the system.”
Calvin Hicks, chief assessor in DeKalb County,
balks at the idea that people have “overpaid”
taxes.
“County services still cost what they cost,”
Hicks said. “So maybe it is that property
[valuations] should have gone down, but the
millage rate should have gone up. That still may
have equaled the same amount of tax money, but
coming from different directions.”
Hicks said foreclosures affect neighborhood
values in different ways and said county
officials are working on the best way to reflect
those properties in future valuations.
ANDP’s report, prepared by Robert Charles Lesser
& Co., breaks out the three ZIP codes with the
most foreclosures in Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb,
Fulton and Gwinnett counties and the average
amount homeowners overpaid their taxes for 2009.
The study took sales values from the second half
of 2008 and contrasted those numbers to the
value the county set on the same property.
Analysts then calculated what the tax assessment
would have been based on sales figures, compared
to actual assessments on the same properties.
Ammo for appeals?
In the 15 ZIP codes with the most foreclosures,
the average overpayment for 2009 was $491, the
report says. Here are the ZIPs and the total
estimated overpayment in each:
● Clayton: 30238, 30274 and 30296, $17 million
overpayment.
● Cobb: 30168, 30127, and 30126, $8 million
overpayment.
● DeKalb: 30038, 30058 and 30032, $16 million
overpayment.
● Fulton: 30310, 30315 and 30331, $24 million
overpayment.
● Gwinnett: 30039, 30045 and 30044, $17 million
overpayment.
In DeKalb’s 30058, Henry-Frisby’s ZIP code, the
average overpayment in 2009 was $391.
“There is a lot I can do with that money,” she
said.
Harkness said she doesn’t have much hope of
getting back the $513 ANDP’s report says was the
average overpayment in her ZIP, 30032.
“But it is good to know, and it gives me
something else to work with when I appeal this
year,” she said.
Both said that working in the tax commissioner’s
office does them no good when it comes to their
own tax valuations.
“No, I only work for the county,” Henry-Frisby
said. “When it comes to my house and things
outside of the office, I’m in the same boat as
everybody else. I’ve got to call the same people
they do and I’ve got to wait for them to call me
back, too.”
Said Harkness: “The only advantage I can think
of is I know how the system works and who to
call, but that doesn’t help change my situation
at all.”
Charles Bowman, a DeKalb teacher who lives in
Gwinnett’s 30039 ZIP code, said he wasn’t
surprised to hear homeowners in his area
overpaid by an average of $503 last year.
“This information makes me feel more inclined to
act and appeal my assessment than before,” he
said of the report. “That money, had we gotten a
refund from our escrow account, could have been
used to do some badly needed repair on our
home.”
Bowman, who has two children with his wife,
Tamiko, said that money could have gone to a
number of other things, including his Ph.D.
studies.
“I think everyone everywhere is trying to be
smart about how and when they spend money,” he
said. “And right now it just hurts to think
there may have been some money that could have
been used differently, if we’d had the chance.”
To review today’s report,
visit www.andpi.org.
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ANDP selected as national finalist
NHC
announces 2009 Pioneer Housing Strategies award
Washington, DC (December 15, 2009) – The
National Housing Conference (NHC) announced
today that Builders of Hope, Inc. (BOH) was
honored with the 2009 NHC "Pioneering Housing
Strategies" Award for helping to close an
expanding gap between the availability and the
need for safe, affordable and
environmentally-friendly urban housing solutions
in the Raleigh, NC area.
About the Award - Established this year, the
"Pioneering Housing Strategies" Award was
developed to replace the NHC "Excellence in
Housing Communications" Award in order to
recognize a broader range of creative
activities. The honor acknowledges pioneering,
forward-thinking strategies that are changing
the way we approach affordable housing and
community development initiatives.
Award finalists included the Atlanta Housing
Authority, Atlanta Neighborhood Development
Partnership, Bank of America, Enterprise
Community Partners, Inc., Fairfax County
Department of Housing and Community Development,
Mercy Housing Chicago, Mercy Housing Idaho,
Metropolitan Planning Council, NeighborWorks®
America, Ohio Finance Housing Agency,
Preservation of Affordable Housing, Inc., San
Diego Housing Commission, and Stewards of
Affordable Housing for the Future.
MORE
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Broken tax system hurts the poor
GUEST COLUMN
By John O’Callaghan
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published Sunday, December 13, 2009
John O’Callaghan is president and CEO of the
Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership.
(December 2009) Georgia’s property tax system is
broken and homeowners in our most vulnerable
neighborhoods are paying the greatest price. The
AJC’s “Property Tax Meltdown” series highlights
the need to reform systemic flaws that grossly
overtax low-income and high-foreclosure
neighborhoods and often undertax more stable
affluent neighborhoods and commercial
properties.
Fairness and due process form the foundation of
a trusting relationship between a government and
its people. But metro assessment practices have
essentially violated that trust by overbilling
low-income residents living in high-foreclosure
neighborhoods by up to triple their fair share
of property taxes.
Georgia law is pretty simple. Local assessors
must set values at a price that a willing buyer
would pay to a willing seller. In a competitive
marketplace that value is the sales price at the
time of purchase. Until very recently, it was a
standard practice for assessors to exclude sales
of foreclosed homes from their valuation
formulas. In 2008, thanks to a change in state
law, assessors can no longer legally ignore the
devastating impact of foreclosures on our
neighborhoods.
Across the five largest metro counties,
low-income residents of high-foreclosure
neighborhoods suffer the most from flawed
assessments and the resulting tax burden. During
the late 1990s, these neighborhoods were the
victims of mortgage fraud, flipping and
predatory lending. As a result, they have been
overassessed for nearly a decade.
By contrast, owners of higher-end homes would
often contest their tax assessments because
their neighbor was paying less. Few have argued
that they couldn’t sell their house for the
assessed value. This bears out in the AJC’s
research — in Atlanta’s most stable ZIP codes,
assessed values are still only 84 to 88 percent
of demonstrated market sales, despite the
depressed market. This was especially true with
commercial properties. Fulton County’s
commercial digest was grossly undervalued. Until
last year, Fulton’s commercial properties had
not received a complete revaluation since 1991.
Property tax values in low-income, minority
neighborhoods were already inflated prior to the
onset of the foreclosure crisis. Now, these
homeowners are living in the neighborhoods most
ravaged by foreclosure. According to the Atlanta
Neighborhood Development Partnership’s research,
at the end of 2008 homes selling in southwest
Atlanta’s Pittsburgh neighborhood were selling
for a fraction (on average 20 percent) of the
county’s assessed value. Fulton recently made a
27 percent average adjustment, but these
residents are still paying $1,300 more in taxes
annually than they should.
The crisis is affecting homeowners and renters
alike in our most damaged neighborhoods.
Nonprofit affordable apartment communities are
being assessed at up to three times market
appraisal values. The increase in rent to cover
the higher tax bill is squeezing residents, many
of whom are low-wage earners.
AJC’s research shows a similar story. Atlanta’s
30310 is the region’s most overassessed. It has
a foreclosure rate of 8.5 percent, average
annual income of under $28,000 and minority
population of 96 percent. The stories are
similar for low-income neighborhoods along
Atlanta’s southern crescent from Atlanta and
south Fulton to Clayton and south DeKalb.
Providing tax equity is critical to stabilizing
our most vulnerable neighborhoods. Some
governments waive local property taxes in
empowerment zones, which attract new homeowners
and investors to disadvantaged neighborhoods.
Metro Atlanta is currently pursuing a strategy
of disempowerment. We are driving out residents
and investment by doubling taxes in struggling
neighborhoods.
Acknowledging critical local government revenue
shortfalls, some seem to argue that counties
should ignore state law by not assessing homes
for what they are actually worth. We should not
ask any taxpayer to pay more than their fair
share just because deficits are looming. The tax
assessor’s job is to set fair values across the
digest. After a level playing field is set,
local government officials must determine the
millage rate required to meet critical local
needs.
If assessments are not adjusted to market levels
in our most vulnerable neighborhoods, our region
will pay the ultimate price in vacant and
abandoned homes, blighted, crumbling
communities, increased crime, and a
deteriorating tax base.
-Top-
Assessment systems overwhelmed
By
Dan Immergluck For the AJC
December 13, 2009
Dan Immergluck is an associate professor in
the School of City and Regional Planning at
Georgia Tech, where he teaches graduate courses
in real estate, housing policy and research
methods.
(December 2009) The tax assessment challenges
portrayed in the AJC this week are affecting
localities across the country. The housing
market boom and bust has stressed property tax
assessment systems, which were not designed for
dealing with such volatility.
While the AJC series focuses on recent declines
in market values, most property tax systems also
have not dealt well with rapid increases in
value. Where values rose rapidly during the
boom, tax values were often much lower than
current market values. Of course this problem
drew little homeowner ire and few headlines.
Over time, overvaluations by assessors will, on
average, be at least partly offset by
undervaluations, but “on average” doesn’t help
the homeowner who may not have benefitted on the
upside but is paying on the downside.
Many of these sorts of problems stem from an
unrealistic goal. It is generally not feasible
for assessors’ appraisal systems to attain very
high levels of accuracy on all properties every
year. Accuracy might be improved somewhat, but a
high degree of “idiosyncratic” error will
persist. And this sort of error will increase
with market volatility.
Policymakers should focus more on reducing
systemic biases in the system that harm certain
groups or neighborhoods, especially those with
modest incomes. As an example, when property
flipping and appraisal fraud were rampant in
some low-income Atlanta neighborhoods during the
2003 to 2006 period, many homes were bought and
quickly resold by investors for very large
gains.
Many of these sales were inflated well beyond
any reasonable value, and they fed higher
assessments on neighboring properties, including
many owned by modest-income owner-occupants.
Ironically, these neighborhoods are some of the
same ones where foreclosures have been greatest,
real values have fallen the most precipitously,
and assessed values exceed current market values
by the greatest amounts.
Notwithstanding some real problems in the
current systems, I recommend those proposing any
changes proceed cautiously. Many hasty revisions
of tax structures that have been born out of
supposed taxpayer “revolts” have backfired.
Statewide laws that limit assessments as long as
a homeowner owns a home (but that reassesses
upon sale) have caused large disparities in tax
bills among homeowners with similar houses and
similar incomes in the same neighborhoods. Any
moves to shift to other forms of taxation should
recognize the volatility in those revenue
streams and the potentially greater burden that
they may impose on modest income households.
More judicious proposals include state rebates
or refundable income tax credits for homeowners
and renters with modest incomes that at least
partly compensate for property taxes that exceed
a certain percentage of their income. (Renters
pay property taxes as well; taxes are passed on
through their monthly rent.)
As of 2007, nine states and the District of
Columbia had such programs. These cushion the
blow for those who need relief the most and
provide an efficient, targeted approach to tax
reform.
Most property tax assessment systems have not
dealt well with rapid increases or decreases in
value, said Dan Immergluck, an associate
professor at Georgia Tech. Jason Getz jgetz@ajc.com
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Media Releases
ANDP
Releases 3rd Property Tax
Assessment Report
Metro Atlanta Homeowners
Overpaid 2009 Property Taxes by
More Than $200 Million; Poor,
High-Foreclosure Neighborhoods
Overtaxed at a Rate Twice Metro
Average
New Report Update: Despite
efforts by assessors to lower
property tax values from 2008 to
2009, Atlanta’s highest-
foreclosure neighborhoods
overpaid their taxes last year
by $82.2 Million
(Atlanta, GA) Low-income
homeowners living in
neighborhoods devastated by the
foreclosure crisis overpaid
their property taxes last year
by an average of nearly $500 per
household, according to a new
report released today by ANDP.
The report – third in an ongoing
series with Robert Charles
Lesser & Company on property tax
inequity in Metro Atlanta –
reveals that residents of the
highest foreclosure communities
overpaid their taxes by more
than double the average
metro-wide overpayment of $244
per household.
Full
Press Release
Full
Report
Board of Directors
ANDP announces new Chair, Vice
Chair and members
January 27, 2010 (Atlanta,
Georgia) — The Atlanta
Neighborhood Development
Partnership, Inc. is pleased to
announce that Pam Sessions of
Hedgewood Properties has been
named Chair of the Board of
Directors and Reggie Fenn of
Bank of America has been named
Vice-Chair. ANDP also announces
the addition of two new board
members – Bill Bolen of Homrich
Berg and Sarah Kirsch of RCLCO.
MORE
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Four Organizations Team Up to Help Revitalize
Southwest Atlanta
Local Revitalization Groups Get Support from
Bank, Its Volunteers and Rebuilding Together
(November 2009) – Hope that the private sector
would augment federal and local efforts to
revitalize neighborhoods damaged by foreclosures
is materializing in Southwest Atlanta. Two major
non-profits awarded federal dollars to acquire,
rehab and fill foreclosures with new homeowners
are teaming with a well-known bank. The bank is
providing funding and volunteers and bringing in
an additional non-profit that will rehab homes
of elderly homeowners in the area.
The first tangible sign of this joint effort
will be seen on Nov. 14 at a Southwest Atlanta
home at 510 Muse St. SW, when Rebuilding
Together Atlanta, along with volunteers from
Wachovia, A Wells Fargo Company, will repair the
residence of Mrs. Emma Davis – the first of six
homes to be repaired in the neighborhood.
Others involved in the collaboration are the
Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership,
Inc., and Resources for Residents and
Communities. ANDP received $1 million through
the National Stabilization Program and RRC
received $1.2 million. Each group has been
assigned neighboring communities in Southwest
Atlanta and is now in the process of identifying
homes to acquire, rehab and fill with
homeowners.
MORE
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ANDP welcomes Christie Cade
ANDP announces the addition of
Christie Cade to its housing
development department. With
more than two decades of
experience in production, asset
management, loan origination,
and program compliance in both
public and private sectors, Cade
brings a wealth of knowledge to
ANDP.
MORE
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Residents of
High-Foreclosure Neighborhoods Could Pay Millions in Excess Property
Taxes
(October 2008) Homeowners in the 15 metro zip codes hardest hit
by foreclosures will pay more than $71 million in excess property
taxes next year if dramatic reassessments are not made, according to
a new study released today by ANDP.
MORE
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