Oak Cottage Court, a workforce housing community on Commerce Drive in Decatur, has now been completed.
The six cottages at Oak Cottage Court range from two to three bedrooms and are priced at $210,000 to $305,000. The location provides easy access to shops, restaurants, K-12 schools and parks.
“As an inclusive community, Decatur’s affordability goal is ensuring there’s housing available for all levels of income,” Conor McNally, President of the Development Authority of the City of Decatur (DDA), said in a press release . “In the process, we hope to broaden our economic diversity by creating opportunities for middle-income buyers previously priced out of the market.”
The DDA formed a collaboration between the Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership as the development partner and the Decatur Land Trust (DLT) as the long-term landowner to preserve the affordability of the cottages in perpetuity through deed restrictions.
“As our first major project, Oak Cottage Court is helping us better understand how we can address workforce housing issues for a wide variety of individuals in our community,” Linda Curry, Chair of DLT, said in the release.
Originally formed in 2019 and empowered to purchase and build the property in 2020, Oak Cottage Court marks the largest project to date for the DLT. The homes for sale at Oak Cottage Court are priced to be affordable for those earning the area median income (AMI) across the Atlanta metro area.
While city, school and housing authority employees are the top priority for Oak Cottage Court, the homes are being made available to all income-qualified buyers, specifically those currently working or renting in the city. Should any of the available homes receive more than one offer, a tiered approach will be applied giving preference first to current City of Decatur, City Schools of Decatur, and Decatur Housing Authority employees; then to employees of any government agency or nonprofit located in the city; then employees of any Decatur business; then current renters in the City of Decatur; and finally, to all others.
“This is part of an expanding campaign to address affordable and workforce housing in Decatur, though no single effort will solve this problem alone,” said City of Decatur Mayor Patti Garrett. “Our hope is by working together, we can begin to provide true economic diversity for our community.”
For more information on Oak Cottage Court, visit DecaturLandTrust.org.
