Atlanta Land Trust (ALT) broke ground at their new development site, The Trust at East Lake. Partner organizations, community development leaders, and Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens joined to celebrate this fresh approach to tackling the city’s affordable housing crisis. Working with city leaders, developers, and planners to secure and preserve affordable housing options for residents of Atlanta, the trust will create a 40-unit townhome development in the city’s East Lake community.  

Reinvestment Fund, a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) with a growing Atlanta office, is one of the partnering organizations helping bring the project to life. In partnership with Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partners (ANDP), Reinvestment Fund will deploy a $3.6 million revolving construction loan. 

Reinvestment Fund invests capital in projects that are both targeted and transformative. As a part of their CDFI model, the organization supports mission-driven organizations and entrepreneurs with big ideas who face barriers to accessing capital from traditional lenders. They believe that access to quality and affordable homes is critical to building sustainable, healthy communities. To support community-led affordable housing projects, Reinvestment Fund offers a broad toolkit of products and flexible solutions to actively support a variety of approaches to increasing affordable housing—from Low Income Housing Tax Credits to naturally occurring affordable housing (NOAH) to land trusts and other subsidies. 

The Trust at East Lake manifests several commitments Reinvestment Fund pursues as their mission to build strong, healthy, and more equitable communities. Since 2018, ALT has developed over 30 homes using its permanent affordable housing land trust model. The model works by reducing displacement that can accompany gentrification and providing a framework that supports residents to attain and sustain homeownership. Following this model for the new…