HACC

Housing Authority of Clayton County

2009 Award of Merit

Entering 2005, the Housing Authority of Clayton County’s (HACC) Advantages Apartment complex was in structural and financial decline. “The Advantages” were not just another of the dozens of multi-family housing projects that the HACC had funded or facilitated. It was the Authority’s own property and primary source of revenue, necessary to fund the majority of its local housing rehabilitation programs, such as its own Alternative Housing Funding Program, its Housing Urgency Grant (HUG) program, its Payment in Lieu of Taxes Program (PILOT), partnerships in education and others. In short, if the revenues of The Advantages Apartments (now Premier Garden) dried up, so too would local HACC programming.

As a result, the HACC initiated its Premier Garden Apartment Homes rehabilitation, renaming, and rebranding program, to improve the property’s management, quality of life, revenues, and marketability. Prior to initiating the program in the spring of 2005, the HACC formed a Facilities Holding Company to determine policies; hired a new property management company to oversee operations; changed the name of the development from “The Advantages” to “Premier Garden Apartments”; and refinanced the property to obtain a much favorable interest rate and free up $2 million in cash for capital projects, rehabilitation, and deferred maintenance. Finally, through the professional services of JWA, the HACC documented and promoted the entire Phase I and Phase II of renovations at the complex (external structures, infrastructure and buildings of the facility) and within its units (interior of apartment homes), respectively.

The current economic and social indicators of its success are undeniable and evident, as occupancy rose to an all-time high of 98% in 2009, with cash flows and profitability better than at any other time of the development’s history. As a result of the project and promotional success of Premier Garden, the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) awarded the Housing Authority of Clayton County its 2009 Award of Merit for Program Innovation in Affordable Housing.

The purpose of the Award of Merit is to give national recognition to the achievement and innovation of NAHRO agency members, such as the HACC, throughout the country; to provide additional opportunities to inform the public of the best in housing and community development; and to create a resource bank of information on significant, innovative activities performed by housing and redevelopment agencies and community development departments. Information from award recipients such as the HACC also is used by NAHRO to support its positions at HUD and to lobby the U.S. Congress.