North Fulton is Housing and Transportation Poor

North Fulton is, on a relative basis, housing and transportation poor.  A large part of North Fulton has its population spending more than 50% of their income on housing and transportation combined when 30-40% is the maximum considered affordable.  The lack of public transportation and affordable housing near employment centers in North Fulton creates a mismatch between the location of low-income workers and low-income jobs, and in turn causes challenges for employers whose employees have a heavier burden.    According to a study by the Brookings Institute, a poor person in the suburbs can only reach 18% of Atlanta’s jobs through public transportation.  As Rebecca Burns of Brookings stated in a May 2013 article in Atlanta Magazine, “it is exceptionally hard to be poor in our suburbs because of the challenges of getting help or getting to work. “

There are also a large number of families living in hotels in North Fulton or in other unsafe environments due to lack of affordable housing or lack of shelters or temporary housing.    A 2015 study by North Fulton Community Charities identified at least 391 hotel rooms being occupied by residents and a few of these motels had a majority of its rooms being filled by residents using the hotel as their “Home”. ” Most of these were in Alpharetta with 229 of the 391, and the rest were in Roswell at 112.  Atlanta Hotel in a self-reported phone survey attributed 80% of its occupancy to residents.

Our community is spending vital resources on subpar hotel rooms as residences where children are not even safe to go outside. NFCC spent $82,172 in hotel fees in 2017 for 256 weeks in hotels.  Some of these hotels are places of high crime.