Center for Economic Development Research plan yields $1.1 million federal grant for new housing
ALBANY, Ga. — In recent years, housing availability and affordability have emerged as major challenges that face communities across the country, and Georgia is no exception. But one municipality has found a way to address both of those issues, while simultaneously planning for the revitalization of a distressed neighborhood.
The city of Albany teamed up with the Center for Economic Development Research (CEDR), a program of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute, to spearhead an initiative focused on the area surrounding Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, long characterized by vacant and overgrown lots, abandoned houses, and subpar rental options.
By employing data-driven research and community engagement, CEDR transformed the city’s concerns into an actionable plan that resulted in a $1.1 million federal grant to support the construction of up to 30 new housing units. The redevelopment effort is a public-private partnership between the city of Albany, Phoebe Putney Hospital, redevelopment agencies, and the Albany Land Bank.
CEDR Senior Project Manager Alan Durham led the team that completed Phase I and Phase II of the Albany Medical District Neighborhood Redevelopment Plan and Market Analysis. “City of Albany Commissioner Chad Warbington got in touch with me about four years ago and said, ‘Hey, we have some housing issues down here,’” Durham said. After touring nearly a dozen neighborhoods, Durham and local officials selected the hospital district area in central Albany. “We decided to focus on the medical district, because not only is Phoebe Putney one of the largest regional employers, it also has some of the largest salaries in the entire region.”
CEDR took a deliberately community-driven approach to this research. Instead of producing a top‑down study, the team conducted online surveys, one‑on‑one interviews, and focus groups with hospital employees and city staffers to understand what kind of housing would actually meet local needs.
“What we learned during the course of these interviews is that people wanted housing for everyone in this neighborhood,” Durham said. “That’s the surgeon who works at the hospital all the way down to the custodial staff or the city manager who could live in the neighborhood all the way down to an entry-level police officer.”
That feedback led to a redevelopment plan prioritizing affordability and featuring a spectrum of housing options at varying price points. CEDR recommended both owner-occupied and rental properties ranging from single‑family homes to triplexes and quadruplexes, as well as small apartment buildings and short‑term rental options for visiting doctors and trainees.
To keep Albany’s historic development pattern intact, CEDR suggested building on smaller lots and repurposing abandoned alleys to keep land costs down. “If you’re going to build affordable workforce housing, it makes sense to keep your 40, 50, or 60‑foot wide lots and utilize the alleyways for parking,” Durham said.
“Another thing we heard is employees want to go out and walk during the day and at night if they were on night shift, but they didn’t feel safe in the neighborhood, so our study focuses on safety.” To that end, CEDR recommended introducing streetlights and requiring front porches on all the new houses to encourage “eyes on the street.”
Albany faces a housing shortage despite having lost 10% of its population between 2010 and 2020. CEDR’s analysis helped the city understand why. As Albany Mayor Bo Dorough put it, “Look at the census figures: 70% of the residences in Albany were built before 1970.” He noted that the city also has problems with dilapidated properties, primarily in distressed neighborhoods with homes built in the 40s and 50s.
“The challenge we see throughout the country is, how can people today realize the American dream that they own their own home?” Dorough said. He expects the new Albany Medical District housing developments to reverse neighborhood decline and create a “halo effect that is going to benefit of the entire city.”
The $1.1 million for the initiative was allocated by U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, supported by U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, and secured through the House Appropriations Committee. That money will be combined with $2 million from Albany to pay for land, roads, and infrastructure.
Said Bishop, who presented the Albany officials with the funding check, “The goals are clear: increase housing accessibility, promote social equity, stimulate economic growth, and attract and retain the workforce that keeps the hospitals, the businesses, and the downtown vibrant.”
The project is Albany’s first major single‑family home redevelopment in decades, arriving at a time when out-of-reach costs have left many first‑time buyers feeling discouraged. Between CEDR’s data-driven research and the strength of the city’s collaborative public-private partnerships, the Albany Medical District redevelopment initiative demonstrates exactly how strategic planning can be used to create affordable housing and resilient communities.