HouseATL unveils new legislative roadmap to boost affordable housing development

With the 2024 state legislative session fast approaching, local advocacy group HouseATL has released a comprehensive policy roadmap to expand affordable housing. 

HouseATL—a broad coalition of Atlanta civic leadership from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors—launched in 2018 to address the city’s mounting affordable housing crisis. This is the group’s first major housing policy update since then. The 23 recommendations it’s developed expand the scope from the city of Atlanta to the five-county metro region of Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Cobb and Clayton counties.

HouseATL’s initial policy recommendations five years ago laid the groundwork for the city of Atlanta’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund, Housing Opportunity Bond program, anti-displacement initiatives, and a slew of other public efforts to make living in the city affordable for moderate and low-income people.

Despite these notable public efforts, metro Atlantans are feeling the housing squeeze. Home prices in the region have spiked 73% since 2017—a trend exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and rising interest rates—while wages have remained stagnant. Consequently, the pressure to produce affordable units is as high as ever.

In its latest housing policy recommendations, released Nov. 16, HouseATL highlighted six focus areas for metro Atlanta policymakers:

● Earmark dedicated revenue sources for affordable housing development

● Enhance and protect renters’ rights

● Create sustainable housing funding sources for people earning under 50% of the area median income

● Prioritize publicly owned assets for affordable housing

● Provide resources to encourage affordable/starter home construction

● Secure property tax exemptions for affordable rental housing

Atlanta Civic Circle spoke with HouseATL’s executive director, Natallie Keiser, to find out how far we’ve come since 2018—and how far we still have to go to make living in metro Atlanta affordable for everyone.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Atlanta Civic Circle: What have been the biggest shifts over the last five years in how elected leaders in Atlanta and statewide are approaching housing policy?

Natallie Keiser: One issue that is newer in this set of recommendations is affordable homeownership, which was much less of a challenge in 2018 than it is now. In our five-county core, [the Urban Land Institute Atlanta] is reporting a 73% increase in home prices since 2017. So the fact that there are so many fewer options for affordable homeownership has really been heightened. 

We’ve leaned into that with these recommendations. One of the findings from the ULI Atlanta housing study is that, for people who are below 80% of the area median income, there are no homes affordable in the five-county core area at the median affordable price. Not having that path to upward mobility and wealth-building is a huge issue for Atlanta’s economic…