Public Hearing: YES ☐ NO ☒ Department: Community Development
SUBJECT:
Title
Commission District(s): All Commission Districts
This agenda item authorizes the allocation and expenditure of an amount not to exceed One Million Dollars ($1,000,000) from the Affordable Housing Fund for due diligence, professional, and legal expenses associated with the “Revive DeKalb” Blighted Property and Redevelopment Program (“Revive DeKalb”), implemented jointly by the DeKalb Regional Land Bank Authority and the CEO’s Office of Housing.
Body
Information Contact: Alan Ferguson, Sr. PhD. CHO, and Paige Mitchell, Project Manager, Office of Housing
Phone Number: 404-371-2746 and 470-368-6382
PURPOSE:
The requested allocation establishes a single, program-wide funding pool for the due diligence, professional, and legal work that must be completed before blighted properties can be acquired under Revive DeKalb, allowing the County to evaluate and advance priority properties efficiently without returning to the Board for separate authorization on each property.
NEED/IMPACT:
Blighted, vacant, abandoned, and distressed properties depress neighborhood stability and remove land from productive housing use. Revive DeKalb is a revolving-investment program that deploys no more than $15 million at any one time and is projected over ten years to generate approximately $45 million in cumulative investment, approximately $270 million in total exit value, the redevelopment of approximately nine blighted properties, and approximately 1,350 new housing units. Each acquisition requires substantial upfront title, lien, appraisal, environmental, association-related, and potential condemnation work; outside counsel’s estimate for a single priority property ranges up to approximately $800,000 in legal and administrative costs alone, exclusive of acquisition costs. This allocation gives the Program the capacity to complete that work across multiple properties and move them toward affordable housing redevelopment.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Not to exceed $1,000,000 from the Affordable Housing Fund, limited to due diligence, professional, and legal expenses. Acquisition purchase prices and just compensation are excluded and will require separate Board authorization. Finance to confirm the fund account number and available balance.
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommended Action
Approve this agenda item authorizing the allocation of up to $1,000,000 from the Affordable Housing Fund for due diligence, professional, and legal expenses associated with the Revive DeKalb Blighted Property and Redevelopment Program.