Georgia Tech warns Columbus leaders: housing supply must rise to match job growth

Alan Durham, senior economic developer at Georgia Tech, told the Columbus City Council on Nov. 6 that the region’s housing market is not building enough homes at the price points needed by the workforce. Durham, who presented a multi‑county workforce housing study commissioned with local partners, said workforce housing generally means households making 80 to 120 percent of area median income and that those households have few programs to help them move from renting into ownership.

"Workforce housing is economic development," Durham said, urging elected leaders to plan for rooftops as well as jobs. He told the council the team used U.S. Census American Community Survey updates and realtor.com listings to calculate recent changes and found Muscogee County home values rose roughly 52 percent since before the pandemic in the study window cited.

Durham walked the council through scenarios showing how many units would be needed to absorb new employment: an influx of about 520 jobs would create roughly 170 new households in the county, he said; a major manufacturer adding 5,000 jobs could require on the order of 845 owner‑occupied homes and 845 rental units to meet demand. The study also projects the region needs roughly 300 new housing units per year to keep up with natural population growth.

Council members pressed Durham on sources and methodology. Durham said the 52 percent figure came from ACS 2023 benchmarks filled in with active listing prices from realtor.com and that migration into smaller Georgia communities — not just Atlanta — was a major driver of recent price pressure. He singled out military downsizing at Fort Benning and the region’s brain drain of younger residents as additional factors.

Durham recommended local actions including revisiting zoning and enabling "missing middle" housing (duplexes, triplexes, townhomes) and using tools such as land banks, tax allocation districts and community improvement districts to catalyze infill and redevelopment. He also encouraged officials to work with nonprofits, builders and United Way to design targeted incentives and pre‑approved small‑unit plans to speed construction.

Council members expressed interest in follow‑up: several asked for a longer briefing and suggested staff convene a working group with developers, the planning department and key community stakeholders to translate the study into an action plan. Durham said his team can provide parcel mapping and more detailed infill recommendations if the council identifies priority neighborhoods.

The presentation packet and full study are hosted on the Georgia Tech department website and the United Way site, Durham said.