Belle Isle Apartment Residents Will Have Help Finding a New Home, Officials Say

It could be October before Belle Isle apartment residents have to move.

On Tuesday, City Council members affirmed their decision from 2011 to support the sale of the apartment building by the Housing Authority of Fulton County.

Officials believe a buyer will likely redevelop the property. Upscale homes sit across the street from the apartment building at 151 Belle Isle Road.

In September 2011, Robert Engstrom, then-chairman of the HAFC Board of Commissioners said the agency would vocally oppose a buyer who intended to once again make the unit public housing.

Council members voted on the issue at that time, but movement on the building was bogged down in due diligence process with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to Teresa Davis, chief mortgage finance officer -  so City Council was required to vote on it again.

The nine-unit building is more than 60-years-old and was purchased back in the mid-1970s. Davis says it’s in poor condition in spite of the money the agency has put into it, and continued maintenance is not realistic to its usefulness.

“As a matter of fact it just continues to deteriorate,” she told Mayor Eva Galambos and Council members.

A longtime resident, who is a senior citizen, told WSB-TV News that he has no wish to move from the convenient, safe location and hopes for a smooth transition to a new home.

Residents will be provided with tenant protection vouchers similar to Section 8. Davis told Patch the amount will be determined by income and family size. Residents will also receive monetary assistance with moving and utility expenses, she said. 

Some may be able to move to a senior citizen building that the Housing Authority operates on Allen Road. Jim Squire, a commissioner with the Housing Authority, said the agency will help residents find a home.

“These tenants will not be displaced in any form or fashion,” Squire said. “Hopefully it will be a non-event and the housing that they will be relocated to will be far superior to what we believe is not satisfactory at this point.”

Galambos explained that when the building was purchased, it was the start of the Fulton County Housing Authority outside of Atlanta. “And then the policy became let’s don’t put people in a particular place, but give them Section 8 and go wherever they can find more choices,” she said.