Urbanist nonprofit Abundant Housing Atlanta’s City Council candidate forum on Wednesday revealed stark differences in how the five Post 3 At-Large hopefuls envision the future of the city’s built environment.
Vacated by Keisha Waites in March, the Post 3 seat represents the entire city of Atlanta. The winner of the November election will serve out the remainder of her term, through Dec. 31, 2025. Panel moderator Asile Patin, an organizational consultant and former organizer for YIMBY Action, said that person will have “tremendous power over what kinds of homes get built, and in which neighborhoods.”
Atlanta finds itself at a pivotal moment, with its population exploding and housing inventory failing to keep up. Housing costs are rising, wages remain stagnant, and the next Post 3 city councilmember will help determine how the municipality navigates unprecedented developer and investor activity, housing market volatility, and the ongoing — and long overdue — rewrite of the city’s zoning code.
Root causes
When Patin asked the panel what they see as “the root cause of Atlanta’s housing challenges,” it became clear that not everyone vying for the Post 3 spot is on the same page about what is causing the mounting affordability crisis.
“It starts with jobs,” said Nicole Evans Jones, a consultant and longtime administrator and former principal for Atlanta Public Schools, including a charter school.
Atlanta faces a staggering housing shortage, she said, “but as a career educator, I know that education played a role in it. [Job] opportunities played a role in it. All of those things create barriers to homeownership.”
To the contrary, “the root cause of the housing crisis starts always with the tax,” said Amber Connor, a landscaping business owner who’s worked as a community organizer with the Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods and Concerned Citizens United.
“If you are a property owner and your taxes go up, then you have to charge the renter more money,” she said. Connor later noted that she rents out one of her own properties — and for less than she probably could.
Duvwon Robinson, who unsuccessfully ran for Fulton County tax commissioner in the Democratic primary in May, claimed that local government bodies have afforded powerful developers more public assistance than they should.
Elected officials should be more discerning about how they support development, said the longtime Atlanta City Council gadfly. “The city council has the power to say, ‘We’re not going to give you a permit if you don’t make units affordable,’” he said.
Devin Barrington-Ward, the managing director of the Black Futurists Group, was the first to mention the city’s restrictive land-use rules.
“We don’t have zoning laws that allow for us to have a diversity of housing,” he explained. Indeed, more than 60% of Atlanta’s residential land is designated exclusively for single-family development. That severely limits adding additional housing, such as accessory dwelling units (ADUs), duplexes and triplexes, or townhomes.
Eshé Collins, who has served on the Board of Education since 2013, suggested beefing up Atlanta’s inclusionary zoning laws, which incentivize residential developers in gentrifying areas to set aside some new units — typically 15% — as affordably priced.
“I definitely think the city council can do more in pushing for more and increasing the percentage mandate — increasing the percentage of affordable housing that developers are mandated to actually develop,” said Collins, a civil rights attorney and the director of the Equity Assistance Center-South for the Southern Education Foundation, which consults with public school districts.
How to boost “missing middle” housing
Zoning is just one of many issues a city leader must address, but the often niche topic carries considerable weight when it comes to building a city that can accomodate a fast-growing population.
Historically, City Hall has been a battleground for homeowners who want to protect suburban, single-family neighborhoods and urban planning wonks who believe that increasing residential density is the way to build out of the affordability crisis.
Patin asked the candidates how they would increase the stock of “missing middle housing” — such as duplexes, triplexes, smaller apartment complexes, and ADUs — in a city that has historically favored single-family development.
“We just need to build more of it,” Evans Jones said.
Barrington-Ward expanded: “Our zoning laws really handcuff us to the type of housing that can be approved in the city of Atlanta,” he said. “When we have a more progressive zoning framework, we can diversify the type of housing that is available to people. And when you have more housing stock that’s available to people, it drives prices down.”
Collins reminded would-be voters, “We are all at the table for the zoning update.”
(Atlanta’s planning department is currently soliciting public input on its drafts of redrawn zoning districts and updated regulations.)
Robinson, however, proclaimed that housing affordability is “not a zoning issue.” He did not explain that response.
How to handle homelessness
Asked how the Atlanta City Council could create policies to accelerate affordable housing production, Robinson instead turned the conversation toward homelessness. It’s a “county issue,” he asserted, and city lawmakers should “hold the county accountable” for the rising unhoused population.
That struck a nerve for Barrington-Ward, who said he experienced homelessness when he was younger. “Respectfully, as a formerly unsheltered person, I didn’t care if the county or the city handled the issue,” he said. “I just wanted it handled.”
“We have to pair homelessness services with mental-health services, because, a lot of times, you have folks who are unsheltered who are also living with unaddressed mental health needs,” Barrington-Ward continued.
The Black Futurists Group leader also proposed adopting Washington, D.C.’s “decentralized shelter” model, which has emergency beds spread across town, rather than concentrated downtown, like in Atlanta.
“We should make sure that there are shelters in all 12 council districts, so that no community is overburdened by the responsibility of caring for the unsheltered,” Barrington-Ward said, adding that the city owns enough vacant land to make it happen.
Other candidates latched on to the decentralized model idea, noting it could help counteract the NIMBYism (the “not in my backyard” urban planning mindset) that often complicates emergency housing projects.
Collins cited the Cooper Street “rapid housing” plan, the city’s controversial proposal to build 100 housing units in Mechanicsville for people experiencing homelessness, along with about 250 market-rate residences and possibly restaurants and retail. Spreading out shelter beds across town could assuage neighbors’ concerns that they’re bearing the brunt of the city’s homelessness solution, she said.
Collins added that Atlanta should bolster its transitional housing programs and wraparound services to reduce the number of people slipping into homelessness.
So did Evans Jones, who said, “It’s only going to get worse if we continue to react. We’ve got to prevent it.”
Connor proposed creating financial literacy courses for “those who are serious about wanting to move past homelessness.”
Sean, thanks for your thoughtful, informative and insightful journalism. For multi-family properties yours and important thoughts and comments.
Jules Stine MA Supportive Housing Ventana Capital