IN THE NEWS
Property owners were overcharged:
Areas with most
foreclosures overpaid even more
By
Michelle E. Shaw,
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 18, 2010
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.
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NHC
announces 2009 Pioneer Housing Strategies award:
ANDP national finalist
National Housing Conference, 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. 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.
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Broken tax system hurts the poor
By John O’Callaghan (Guest Column),
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, December 13, 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.
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Assessment systems overwhelmed
By
Dan Immergluck (Guest Column), Atlanta
Journal-Constitution,
December 13, 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.
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MEDIA RELEASES
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
February 18, 2010
(Atlanta, Georgia) - 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
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ANDP announces new Chair, Vice
Chair, members to Board
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.
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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 (Atlanta, Georgia) - 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.
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ANDP welcomes Christie Cade
August 6, 2009 (Atlanta,
Georgia) -
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.
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