As the board of Atlanta Housing Wednesday voted to approve Terri Lee, chief operating officer of the authority, to be its next CEO. The standing-room-only crowd at the historic Roosevelt Hall cheered in jubilation.

Unlike many who have served in that role in the past decade, Lee will enjoy an alignment between the mayor’s office, the Atlanta Housing board and the community at large.

Plus, affordable housing is one of Mayor Andre Dickens’ top priorities. Dickens has said Atlanta will build or preserve 20,000 affordable housing units by 2030, and Atlanta Housing is tasked to deliver half of those units.

Lee was the top choice of the search committee, which was chaired by Duriya Farooqui, an Atlanta Housing board member.

“It was very competitive,” Farooqui said. “There were many people considered. Terri was viewed as someone who was absolutely right for the job.”

Dickens said many candidates were vetted during the nationwide search.

“Terri, you stood out in your interviews — your body of work and your knowledge of Atlanta,” Dickens said during the Atlanta Housing board meeting, the only time as far as I can remember that a sitting mayor has attended the meeting. “This is as much head work as heart work. There’s no question of your heart of service. There’s no question about your integrity.”

Then the mayor ended by saying: “Terri, let’s do it.”

Lee is well-known in Atlanta for her dedication to housing and planning. She spent 14 years in leadership positions working in Atlanta’s planning department before being appointed as the city’s first chief housing officer in 2018.