Atlanta Housing Authority Screws the Poor? Or Helps?

Over the last few years, the Atlanta Housing Authority has periodically destroyed downtown housing projects to make room for more "mixed-income" apartments\housing communities, but has also provided new public housing for the displaced residents of the demolished projects.

For example, in 2002, the AHA demolished some projects, displacing 5,000 familes. (That's families, not people.) A mere 332 of those families now live in the new mixed-income housing. Creative Loafing speculates on why so few families made the move:

"One of the reasons why so few residents returned was the housing authority's strict terms. The Sellers, for
example, say they were turned down because they'd been late paying their utilities at the house in Decatur.
Families also can be barred from re-entry due to a drug conviction (past or present), unemployment (unless
you're disabled, which the Sellers are) and poor credit history – some of the most common misfortunes that
plague the poor."

Currently up on the chopping block are 12 inner-city projects.
City-wide public housing unit total, before the proposed demoltion: 14,800
City-wide public housing unit total, after the proposed demoltion: 4,800

Yet some displaced residents have found their new housing superior to the old housing. Get the scoop by making the jump.