By Mark Lannaman
The City of Atlanta’s department of housing, Atlanta Housing (AH), revealed last month how it plans to move forward for the next five years. One of the biggest takeaways is the plan’s focus on people and housing affordability — a hot topic of late as rents continue to increase faster than wages — a 16 percent housing increase in Metro Atlanta compared to 3.1 percent for wages in 2021.
The Strategic Plan included six key goals:
- Create or Preserve 10,000 Affordable Housing Units
- Enhance Housing Assistance Resources for Atlantans in Need
- Create Opportunities for Individuals, Families, and Children to Thrive
- Build or Expand Partnerships to Pool Resources and Maximize Impact for the Benefit of Families
- Communicate the Impact of AH’s Work to Atlanta
- Strengthen Atlanta Housing Operations
The goals are people-first, says Larry Stewart, Chair of the Board of Commissioners for Atlanta Housing.
“We think that our work is about rebuilding neighborhoods, and taking them from unhealthy to healthy,” said Stewart.
Creating and Preserving
The plan divides that 10,000 affordable units evenly between creation and preservation — 5,000 each.
A majority of the identified sites for creating the 5,000 affordable units come from previously demolished – and now vacant – federal housing sites, said Terri Lee, Chief Operating Officer for Atlanta Housing. Most were demolished in the late 90’s or early 2000’s.
“What we’re working on is how do we increase and mobilize very quickly the opportunity to redevelop our former public housing sites that are vacant?” said Lee.
The vacant sites will now site mixed-income developments that officials say will aid the department’s goal in achieving that figure for affordable housing.
Former public housing projects like Bowen Homes and Herndon Homes were cited as examples of this kind of repurposing of once-public housing land. Bowen’s potential for revitalization in particular was made…
Read the full article here
