You've probably heard the phrase "killing two birds with one stone." Well, that's what the city of Gainesville and a group of students from the University of Georgia are doing with a housing survey project underway now.
The students are taking a Housing and Community Development class at UGA and they will get real-life experience (and class credit) by conducting a housing survey of some 400 homes in neighborhoods around the Gainesville High School area. The city gets the benefit of having the survey information without having to dole out cash for the service.
Gainesville Housing Manager Chris Davis said in a phone interview Friday the students have already spent a couple of days assessing some properties in the Gainesville High School area, and they'll continue their work into March.
Davis said while there are a number of areas in Gainesville that need housing assistance, his office has pinpointed an area that he thinks will be most viable for the students' project.
"This area is generally from the high school...down to John Morrow [Parkway] around and up Academy Street and then up to Green [Street] and Forest Avenue...Oak Street and through there," said Davis.
He said the students would not be talking to residents of the homes, but simply taking a look at the houses from the street.
"They're basically doing a visual survey, lot-by-lot, on the condition of all the residential units in that specific area," said Davis.
Information in a city press release noted that the Gainesville city limits cover portions of 16 census tracts, 10 of which are considered “qualified census tracts” with poverty levels greater than 20-percent. Gainesville has what is known as the City of Gainesville Consolidated Plan, which identifies three primary housing needs in the city: lack of affordable housing, substandard housing conditions and overcrowding for low-income families.
Davis said based on a Georgia Initiative for Community Housing (GICH) Plan, a housing conditions survey is one of the first steps to alleviating those problems.
Davis said he believes the students will turn over their findings to the city by the end of April or the first of May. Then, he said, the city will make practical use of the information to apply for grants to rehabilitate blighted areas.
"They'll compile all that information for us, and I will have basically a map that will show where there are 'hot spots' of deteriorated housing," said Davis."Information like this that's been gained from on the ground certainly helps and supports our applications that we submit - that helps us get funding."
