The city of Atlanta’s housing authority passed a $533.9 million budget Wednesday, which officials say will move it closer to the goal of creating or preserving 10,000 affordable housing units within five years.
Atlanta Housing’s board of commissioners unanimously approved the agency’s fiscal year 2025 budget at an afternoon meeting at Roosevelt Hall in Atlanta. Officials said the balanced budget would lead to the investment of about $159 million for development and revitalization, including construction of 1,350 housing units and plans to preserve another 1,114 units.
The fiscal year begins July 1.
Atlanta Housing president and CEO Terri M. Lee thanked the board for passing the agency’s “largest and historic budget.”
“We are here to make sure that we can provide resources to our families, that we can ensure that our seasoned residents age in place with dignity and grace … That we are serving as a safe haven so that our families and our children don’t have to worry about where they’re going to sleep,” she said.
The budget strengthens Atlanta Housing’s 2023–27 Strategic Plan and gives a boost to Mayor Andre Dickens’ affordable housing goals. He wants to create or preserve 20,000 units by 2030. The agency expects to have created more than 8,000 units by the end of fiscal year 2025.
“That’s a Herculean lift because this year alone we’re going to close over two dozen transactions to make sure that we can lift that possibility up,” Lee said.
According to Atlanta Housing officials, the city has quickly progressed in providing affordable housing with 300 units in fiscal year 2021 and the 1,350 units projected for the next fiscal year. Commissioner Duriya Farooqui said during the meeting that the agency had quadrupled its impact.
“The intent of this board and the leadership team is to ensure that we are running on all six cylinders. We’re using as much horsepower as we have as an agency to make a massive impact in affordable housing,” she said.
Officials said the budget includes $284 million in housing assistance and public subsidy payments.
Close to 22,000 families will receive rental assistance, benefiting low-to-moderate income households including families, seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, and people vulnerable to homelessness and eviction.
About $5 million is reserved for homeownership down payment assistance, to help more than 200 new homebuyers. An additional $2 million was budgeted to fund human development, supportive housing services, and community relations, the agency said in a news release.
The city anticipates it will source the funds from $503 million in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development funding from the Moving to Work demonstration program, with $67 million drawn from the previous year.
An additional $7.9 million comes from development-related program income. It expects $9.5 million from transactions closing over the next fiscal year, $1.9 million from repayment of development loans, and $11.6 million for other sources.
According to the budget, $290.8 million will be spent directly on housing, $158.7 million for development and revitalization; $63.9 million for department operations; $7 million for capital improvements, $4.2 million for other uses, including human development services and building operations; and $9.3 million for reserves.
This story has been updated to correct when Atlanta Housing expects to have created 8,000 units. The original article incorrectly stated the agency expects to reach this goal by 2027.
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