Model 3: Adaptive Reuse of a Prison

In Making Housing Happen, Bob Lupton tells the riveting story of the Atlanta stockade built in the 1800s, its demise, and its transformation into affordable housing more than a hundred years later. This project was fully paid for and completed within a year, bringing together some of Atlanta’s top architects and general contractors who would normally be competing against each other. Tom Brokah, the mayor and others helped publicize this historical transformation, as hundreds of churches and volunteers came together to make this vision a reality. Even the franchise tax board got involved by making the property tax free—part of the reason the stockade-turned-Glen Castle maintains some of the most affordable rents in all Atlanta. Here minimum wage workers pay only a third of their income on rent allowing them to live meaningful lives without the daily stress of wondering how they will make it.

Links:

FCS Urban Ministries.
http://www.fcsministries.org/about.htm