Atlanta Housing’s (AH) soon-to-retire chief executive, Eugene Jones, might have to stick around an extra month or so beyond his announced Dec. 31 departure date, while the agency finishes a national search for his successor, according to AH’s search committee chair, Duriya Farooqui.
But the search team expects to select a finalist by the end of January to lead the agency, which oversees a $452.1 million budget. Of that, over half ($253 million) is for housing assistance to over 21,000 low-income households. But fully one-quarter of AH’s current budget ($113 million) is earmarked for building 1,881 affordable housing units and preserving another 1,445 units.
Farooqui, an executive coach and AH board commissioner, is spearheading the search alongside other agency officials and a roster of public- and private-sector housing leaders like Matt Bronfman, the CEO of Jamestown Properties, which developed Ponce City Market; former AH chief executive Renee Glover; and Bill Bolling, who founded and facilitates the Atlanta Regional Housing Forum. (Bolling is also Atlanta Civic Circle’s board chair.)
“We’ve gotten tremendous interest nationally,” Farooqui said in an interview, including resumés from candidates in Atlanta and even within the housing authority. “We are considering people with deep housing authority experience who have run multiple agencies, and also people from the private sector with experience with affordable housing development.”
Top of mind for the search committee: Find someone who can oversee AH’s plan to develop about 300 acres of land it owns into mixed-income housing with a significant affordable component through public-private partnerships, while navigating the housing authority’s funding constraints.
“Take any visible, ambitious project that has changed the face of our city, and you’re going to find that a public-private partnership was critical for success,” Farooqui said, mentioning the Atlanta Beltline, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and the Westside Future Fund’s work to build and preserve affordable housing.
Farooqui added that AH needs a leader capable of carrying monumental projects newly in the works over the finish line—including the redevelopment of Old Fourth Ward’s Atlanta Civic Center and the Westside’s former Bowen Homes neighborhood.
“We want to make sure that when the [AH] leadership team is negotiating—whether it’s for the Civic Center or Bowen Homes or another development—they are able to think about what is the right capital structure, what is the right way to negotiate and structure a deal that accomplishes both [our] goals of affordability, but also—if it’s a private developer—how to incentivize them to invest in a way that’s still a viable investment for them,” she added.
AH’s top job can be challenging, even sisyphean at times, as Atlanta loses hundreds of units of affordable housing annually—with luxury developments replacing homes priced for lower-income residents. So why might someone seek out the role?
For one, AH is the biggest public housing authority in the state, backed by the most funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and afforded extra freedom from the federal agency.
Because AH participates in HUD’s pilot Moving to Work program for public housing authorities, Farooqui said, “it allows the agency to do things more innovatively and across sectors in ways that not every agency is granted authority to do.” (AH’s embrace of the public-private partnership model is a testament to this.)
What’s more, AH’s new leader can significantly shape the city’s rapidly evolving response to its affordable housing crisis.
“The opportunity to make an impact is compelling,” Farooqui said. “Atlanta has been known to be a city that has struggled to bridge the [socioeconomic] divide. At the same time, our city has the legacy of the civil rights movement, and it is known for bridging divides. We are a fast-growing city, and the opportunity to make a difference here is not lost on me.”
Before AH recruited Jones as CEO from a position as head of the Chicago Housing Authority, years of leadership turbulence—and lawsuits—had hobbled AH’s effectiveness at producing housing.
“Another draw is the fact that we now have a board of commissioners that is not bringing their agenda to the table, other than to support the work of the agency and to ensure that the new leader is positioned well,” Farooqui said.
“We need to make sure we are selecting someone who really builds partnerships, somebody who is extraordinary at execution, someone who brings a sense of urgency, and someone who is very familiar with this space and will be able to hit the ground running,” she said.