Atlanta Housing Authority:2 Ways of Life

By ERIC STIRGUS / The Atlanta Journal-Constitution / Published on: 12/06/07

If all goes as planned, the one-bedroom Atlanta apartment 88 -year-old Sarah Beach has called home for the past eight years will fall to the wrecking ball next year.

Grounded in the familiarity of longtime neighbors and people who drive her to the grocery store and church, Beach doesn't want to leave the 500 -square-foot space she calls home.

"I can't be happy about going somewhere until I see it and try it out," Beach said last week, sitting on a folding chair sandwiched by her bed and a dresser drawer. Atlanta Housing Authority officials say they will help Beach move and believe she'll be fine in her new surroundings. Some community activists and tenants doubt the agency.

AHA officials announced plans earlier this year to raze a dozen older and crime-plagued apartment complexes under what it calls a "Quality of Life Initiative." The authority has leveled or redeveloped about a dozen properties since 1994, but for the first time, demolition plans include buildings exclusively for senior citizens. The two senior developments eyed for destruction are Roosevelt House and Palmer House , where Beach lives.

Currently, 364 seniors live in the two buildings. The Palmer House originally was scheduled to be torn down in January, but AHA officials say the work has been delayed, largely due to questions from City Council members and community activists.

Some Atlanta City Council members want to create a task force that will come up with ways to ensure tenants like Beach land in good situations after the demolition. Critics complain that housing authority's plan has pushed some tenants into the suburbs, where it is tougher to get to public transportation, health care and other services.

AHA Executive Director Renee Glover defended the plan after Monday's City Council meeting. "We stand by all the work we have done on affordable housing opportunities for the poor, the elderly and the disabled," Glover said.

Palmer House is near the Georgia Aquarium. Opened in 1966 during the first term of Mayor Ivan Allen, it stands 17 stories high and overlooks the street that bears the former mayor's name. AHA officials say it would cost $20 million to renovate Palmer House, largely because the building's insulation has some asbestos, which can cause cancer. An AHA spokesman said the asbestos is not endangering the tenants.

Housing authority officials point to other problems. Voices are difficult to hear over the intercom. Efficiency units are only 300 square feet in size. Hallways have tile floors and are dimly lit. Apartments have no bathtubs, just showers. AHA officials say the displaced tenants will have the first opportunity to move into whatever housing is rebuilt where they are now. But first, they must find new places to live.

Bertha Dukes, 91 , has lived in an efficiency apartment since 1999, when she moved from the West End. She doesn't know where she will go. Her bed, sofa and living room chair are within a few feet of each other. To make up for the one small closet near her bed, Dukes has a plastic dresser filled with clothes next to her window.

Dukes has mixed feelings about moving. She knows her new place will be larger, but it will be unfamiliar. Her apartment is not. "It's home," she said.