The city of Atlanta’s whopping $2.75 billion draft budget for the upcoming fiscal year is slated to funnel $17 million into its affordable housing trust fund — a purse dedicated to everything from building new units to providing financial assistance to lower-income renters and homeowners.
This year, Mayor Andre Dickens’ proposed FY25 budget fully funds the city’s three-year-old affordable housing trust, per the ordinance that created it.
Representing a full 2% of the city’s $853.8 million general fund, the $17 million will support “initiatives to provide safe and quality housing for residents and [promote] inclusive growth across the city,” according to a press release from Mayor Andre Dickens’ office.
That $17 million marks a big funding boost from the $11.5 million allocated in FY24 and $7 million in FY23, in accord with the 2021 establishing legislation. It directed that the housing trust be funded at 1% of the general fund in its first year, then at 1.5% for FY24, and then at 2% for FY25 and onward.
What does the housing trust pay for?
The housing trust now has about $16 million in it. Over the past two fiscal years, it has funded emergency rental assistance and down payment help programs, property acquisitions and construction financing to build affordable housing, anti-displacement initiatives, and the city’s new Housing Help Center — a “one-stop shop” for lower-income residents seeking help navigating Atlanta’s expensive residential market.
Lawmakers haven’t always found it easy to fully fund the housing trust.
In the 2018 Gulch development deal it inked with the city, California-based real estate investment firm CIM Group promised to pay $28 million into an affordable housing trust fund in exchange for generous tax abatements. But it wasn’t until October 2021 that the city council adopted an ordinance to create the fund.
Last year, citing inflation concerns, the mayor initially proposed only $8 million for the trust, which would have shortchanged it by $3.5 million. But days before the July 1 start of the 2024 fiscal year, Atlanta City Council members passed legislation to bring that up to the full $11.5 million.
The uses for the housing trust continue to evolve. In July, for instance, the city tapped into the fund to launch the Atlanta Urban Development Corporation, a city-run nonprofit that partners with private developers to build affordable housing on city-owned land.
The city is also using the fund to convert downtown’s Two Peachtree office building into housing.
And earlier this year, the local People’s Community Land Trust — a budding nonprofit coalition that bought an apartment building to rent at below-market rates to lower-income earners — vowed to lobby the city for funding from the trust to buy more subsidized housing.
Planning department budget
The mayor’s draft budget also increases funding to $26.6 million for the Department of City Planning — a $2.89 million jump. Factoring in a few expense cuts, that translates into an extra $3 million for 43 additional full-time staff positions in the planning department, for 341 total personnel.
The planning department will play a critical role in affordable housing production as it continues a major overhaul of its decades-old zoning code.
Local housing advocates hope the zoning code rewrite will permit denser housing in areas currently zoned for single-family residential. That could stimulate affordable housing production at a time when it’s in short supply.
How to get involved
The city council is currently hosting departmental briefings and hearings on the budget. After any changes, it will vote June 3 on whether to approve the spending package. Dickens then will approve or veto the budget on June 12. City leaders must pass the budget by June 30, before the new fiscal year begins July 1.
There is a public hearing on the Atlanta budget on May 21 from 6:15 to 7 p.m. City Hall is also soliciting comments and questions from residents at budgettalk@atlantaga.gov.