Atlanta-Journal Constitution Reporter Raisa Habersham outline possible ways Atlanta’s $100 million housing bond will be spent.
A few ideas the council may consider are funding for multifamily loans; down payment assistance to help people purchase homes; and money for owner-occupied home rehabilitation efforts. But Westmoreland said acquiring land should be a significant part of any affordable housing conversation.
“We need to be really focused on making sure that we’re assembling the land that will be needed, that the city would then control forever to build affordable housing for our residents in the years ahead,” Westmoreland said.
Last year, Bottoms announced a robust $1 billion affordable housing plan that included using money from the Housing Opportunity Bond to help the city acquire land for affordable housing.
In Georgia, there is a shortage of about 204,000 rental homes for families whose income falls at or below the poverty line, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
Bottoms’ executive order issuing the bond came nearly 18 months after HouseATL, a nonprofit comprised of business, nonprofit, and city leaders, suggested Bottoms issue $250 million in bonds, with those dollars distributed over a period of a few years.
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