Atlanta City Council passed legislation Wednesday to fully fund the city’s affordable housing trust fund for the first time since it was created two years ago.
Atlanta City Councilman Jason Dozier sponsored the ordinance to allocate an additional $3.5 million to the trust fund — which raises the total commitment this year to $11.5 million, or 1.5% of the general fund as is required in the 2021 legislation that created the trust fund.
The legislation will take the money from Atlanta’s uncommitted fund.
“The Housing Trust Fund is one of a myriad of affordable housing tools at the city’s disposal, but it’s one of our most important,” Dozier said after the vote.
Dozier’s ordinance was also amended to include the condition that the $3.5 million will only be transferred if the city is not projecting a deficit at the close of the second fiscal quarter, ending Dec. 31, 2023.
“The onus is on the CFO to come back and raise a stink about it,” said Atlanta Chief Financial Officer Mohamed Balla, referring to his discretion to advise against fully funding the account.
Dickens announced in May that the city is working with the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta for a historic $200 million investment into building and preserving 20,000 affordable units by 2026. Last year, Dickens also announced plans to spend $58.7 million on housing — without the additional taxpayer burdens — by using federal dollars and philanthropic funds from the “Gulch” deal cemented by former Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.
But Dozier told his colleagues at council committee meetings last week that Atlanta still needs to commit to a fully-funded, recurring account for affordable housing because philanthropic contributions eventually dry up.
Housing advocates criticized Dickens in May because he failed to follow the city’s own ordinance. Dickens also took flak from advocates last year for not initially budgeting for the trust fund at all. In both cases, the Dickens administration said the city’s budgets were created in light of the inflationary pressures in the country.
Dan Immergluck, a Georgia State University urban studies professor and an avid critic of the city’s housing policies, urged City Hall to use the fund to build and homes and to directly provide affordable housing.
Credit: City of Atlanta
Credit: City of Atlanta
Immergluck has repeatedly said the city should use other parts of the budget to address code enforcement and property issues. Former mayor Bottoms said in 2021 that the trust fund would be focused on anti-displacement and home down payment assistance.
Atlanta Councilman Matt Westmoreland, who sponsored the original housing trust fund legislation, said at last week’s finance committee meeting that the city needs to spend the next 12 months identifying the best funding stream for the account. He said their goal should be to find a funding source that will allow Atlanta to create units affordable for a family of four that makes no more than $51,050 a year — or 50% of the area median income.
“I am certainly open to a conversation that the general fund might not be the best place for these dollars to come from,” Westmoreland said. “Let’s talk about it sooner rather than later.”
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