Geoff Koski, KB Advisory Group, on North Fulton’s Aging Population, the Missing Rungs on the Housing Ladder, and Why Roswell Has Stopped Growing (North Fulton Voices, Episode 22)
On this edition of North Fulton Voices, Geoff Koski, President of KB Advisory Group, joins Jack Murphy and Nancy Diamond of the North Fulton Improvement Network to look at North Fulton’s aging population and who is being priced out of the region’s housing. Koski has spent nearly 25 years in Atlanta real estate and urban planning, and his firm served on the consulting team for Roswell’s recent comprehensive plan. Jack Murphy opens with figures from that plan: from 2010 to 2025, Roswell residents ages 75 to 84 more than doubled, while children under five declined by nearly a quarter.
Koski explains how Roswell got here. Families who built homes in the ’80s and ’90s are now one- and two-person households still living in those houses, limiting local downsizing options and the availability of starter homes for younger households. The two groups want much the same thing: a smaller, lower-maintenance home close to jobs and amenities. Many of the options that would fit, such as cottage courts, duplexes, and fourplexes, local zoning codes prohibit. With Roswell’s plan leaving established neighborhoods alone, Koski argues the opportunity is in redeveloping the city’s commercial areas, where putting more homes on each lot spreads the cost of roads and utilities across more households.
The conversation also covers why Roswell’s population has stayed flat since 2020 even as the number of households continues to rise, what happens when nurses and other workers can’t afford to live where they work, and why the features that make a community work for older residents, like walkability and a range of housing types, also draw young families and employers. Koski closes with a point he makes in public meetings: nearly everyone has been a renter at some point, and a community needs homes for all of the people it depends on.
North Fulton Voices is presented by the North Fulton Improvement Network. The show series is proudly sponsored by John Ray Co. and North Fulton Business Radio, LLC.
Key Takeaways from This Episode
- Roswell’s comprehensive plan data shows residents ages 75 to 84 grew 104% from 2010 to 2025 and ages 65 to 74 grew 75.6%, while children under five fell 24.4%. North of the Chattahoochee River, Fulton County elementary and middle school enrollment dropped by about 2,300 students in a single year.
- Roswell’s population has been roughly flat since 2020, but the number of households keeps growing, meaning more people live alone or in pairs. The housing stock, built mostly for families in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, hasn’t changed to match.
- Empty nesters looking to downsize and young households searching for a first home want nearly the same thing: smaller, lower-maintenance homes near work and amenities. Neither group has many options in North Fulton.
- Cottage courts, duplexes, and fourplexes could fill that gap, but most local zoning codes don’t allow them. Koski says no one can know what buyers really want when those homes can’t be built.
- Renters make up about a third of the housing market, whether a city plans for them or not. KB Advisory Group’s housing studies for Alpharetta found that when few new rentals were built after the Great Recession, renters moved into single-family neighborhoods instead.
- Building more homes on one lot spreads the fixed cost of roads, utilities, and other infrastructure across more households. Koski points to Roswell’s commercial areas, not its established neighborhoods, as the place to do it.
- When workers can’t find housing they can afford near their jobs, they commute in, add to traffic, and spend their paychecks in the communities where they live.
Topics Discussed in this Episode
00:24 John Ray opens the show; Jack Murphy shares data on the graying of North Fulton and falling school enrollment
02:21 Geoff Koski’s background, KB Advisory Group, and the data he tracks
05:48 Why Roswell residents misjudge their own community, and how its housing stock stagnated
09:11 Alpharetta, Sandy Springs, and the balance between jobs and housing
11:00 Is this situation unique to North Fulton? Baby boomers, birth rates, and an inverted pyramid
16:15 Why downsizers and young households want the same kind of home
17:51 Cottage courts, duplexes, and fourplexes that zoning codes don’t allow
20:22 North Fulton’s big houses and the renters who end up in them
24:01 The missing rungs on the housing ladder
27:47 What is driving up housing costs, and how more homes per lot spreads them out
33:10 What happens when workers can’t live where they work
38:07 Choosing to age, and what an age-friendly community looks like
42:50 What surprised Geoff about the Roswell comprehensive plan
46:42 Resistance to change and the knock-on effects of saying no
52:13 What residents misunderstand about housing: renters are people too
55:11 How to connect with Geoff Koski
Geoff Koski, President, KB Advisory Group
Geoff Koski is President of KB Advisory Group, an Atlanta urban planning and real estate market analysis firm that works with cities and private developers on how communities grow. He has worked in Atlanta real estate and urban planning for nearly 25 years and has owned the firm since 2017. The work of KB Advisory Group includes market and feasibility studies, economic impact analysis, redevelopment strategy, and local housing analysis and policy.
In North Fulton, the firm served on the consulting team for Roswell’s comprehensive plan, conducts an ongoing housing study for the City of Alpharetta, and took part in early planning for Alpharetta’s new downtown.
Before moving into real estate, Koski taught high school history, politics, and economics, and he holds a master’s degree in American history from Western Carolina University.
North Fulton Improvement Network
The North Fulton Improvement Network (NFIN) is a think tank made up of community leaders from various sectors, focused on missing middle housing and the livability challenges confronting North Fulton. We come from the six cities making up the northern half of Fulton County, Georgia—Alpharetta, Johns Creek, Milton, Mountain Park, Roswell, and Sandy Springs—and are working to address the widespread yet little-known financial vulnerability across the region. With stakeholders from sectors including business, nonprofit, faith, government, and citizens, we center our work on five areas of impact: seeking to educate the public about these issues, building a network of individuals and organizations with innovative private and public solutions, and connecting resources to those in need.
The leadership team of NFIN is Jack Murphy, Nancy Diamond, and Kathy Swahn.
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Jack Murphy
Jack Murphy is a volunteer with The Society of St. Vincent de Paul and is Chair of the North Fulton Improvement Network. He is also in his 21st year of working for the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.
He has served on both the National and Georgia Boards of The Society of St. Vincent de Paul, responsible for Diversity, Advocacy & Systemic Change. Jack is currently the national SVDP chair of Systemic Change and Advocacy.
Jack received a BA in psychology from Belmont Abbey College and an M.Ed. from UNC-Greensboro. Jack and his wife, Nancy, a retired elementary school principal, have two grown daughters and two grandchildren. They live in Alpharetta, Georgia.
Nancy Diamond
Nancy Diamond is a Project Manager with Schmit & Associates, a real estate development firm, creating town center revitalization in communities all around the metro area.
Nancy served 8 years as a Roswell City Council member, including a term as Mayor Pro Tem, with liaison positions with Community Development, Transportation, Recreation & Parks, and Public Safety.
In addition to her work with the North Fulton Improvement Network, Nancy has been active in area non-profit organizations, including board leadership positions in the STAR House Foundation, WellStar North Fulton Hospital, and the Roswell Rotary Club.
A native of Atlanta and a 42-year North Fulton resident, Nancy worked at Turner Broadcasting in the early years of CNN, then became a freelancer in sports television graphics. While raising her two daughters, she worked from home, first developing a corporate gift service and later as a mortgage loan originator.
Nancy and her husband, Glenn, now relish the role of grandparents to Owen.
Sponsor for North Fulton Voices: John Ray and North Fulton Business Radio, LLC
The North Fulton Voices show series is proudly sponsored by John Ray Co. and the North Fulton affiliate of Business RadioX®.
John Ray is a podcast show host and producer and owns North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, the North Fulton (Georgia) affiliate of Business RadioX®.
John also operates his own business advisory practice, John Ray Co. John’s services include advising solopreneurs and small professional services firms on their value, their positioning and business development, and their pricing. His clients are professionals who are selling their expertise, such as consultants, coaches, attorneys, CPAs, accountants and bookkeepers, marketing professionals, and other professional services practitioners.
John is the author of the #1 nationally best-selling book, The Generosity Mindset: A Journey to Business Success by Raising Your Confidence, Value, and Prices.
John is the host of North Fulton Business Radio and The Price and Value Journey. North Fulton Business Radio, the longest-running podcast in the North Fulton region of Georgia, features a wide range of business and community leaders. The Price and Value Journey focuses on solo and small-firm professional services providers and covers issues such as pricing, value, and business development.
