If you can afford it I would look north towards Tompkins and Schuyler counties instead.

The helical piers system would cost $25k but is a permanent solution.

.: I would only buy single family homes in the best locations I could afford rather than messing with multifamily and less great locations, and I would use my local credit union for loans because they keep them in-house and service them in-house, so that I wouldn’t have to deal with loans being passed around among all the sketchy loan servicing companies.  

Cheap a la carte solutions already exist for everything you mentioned. 

I'm currently biased towards Indianapolis based on its job growth and affordability, but you could honestly find deals in any of the markets you mentioned (and if your heart is set on the Atlanta metro area, I'd strongly suggest the towns Union City and Fairburn based on their growth, appreciation, and price -- I almost closed on a good BRRRR deal in Fairburn but the rehab was just out of my budget). 

What exactly would make a city board approve non-affordable (i.e. not Section 8)  apartments?

Adding value and sweat equity to the homes we occupied was the only way we could afford the bigger properties we needed.

I’m building a tech solution that should drive more buyer leads to an agent’s pipeline.

From there, it's normal DTI/Credit/Cash assessment for the new loan to determine whether you can afford the loan. 

If there WERE motivated you wouldn't be able to chase them because they would be chasing and looking for a solution to their own problem.