Atlanta announces $200M 'gamechanger' deal for affordable housing

ATLANTA - Atlanta officials are offering a new $200 million lifeline to help families who are struggling with finding housing they can afford.

The city announced a new effort to create affordable housing in Atlanta through a public and philanthropic partnership.

In total, the investment will be $200,000 - half of which will be provided by the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation and the Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation.

Speaking at an event Tuesday, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said that the push for affordable housing has been central to his administration and called the new multi-million dollar commitment a "game-changer."

"When we do these group projects together - you see the buildings, but you're about to see the life," Dickens said.

Standing alongside the city leaders at that event was a woman who knows what it was like to not have a warm and safe place to sleep.

Tonette Freeman was homeless for close to 20 years before getting a chance to live at Academy Loft Apartment - a unit paid for with affordable housing funds.

"I'm just so emotional because I was out there. I just didn't know what to do," Freeman said. "Every time I go out the door I smile because I have a place to come home to. I don't have to be out in the streets no more."

The goal of the affordable housing bond is to build and preserve 20,000 affordable housing units in the city by 2026.

Officials described the investment as the largest single investment in affordable housing in Atlanta's history. 

"In every city, the trends have been moving in the wrong direction for entirely too long and too many people are struggling," Community Foundation President and CEO Frank Fernandez said. "But we have a window of time particularly in the next three years to change the trajectory in Atlanta. That is why we are moving with urgency to bring together all our partners, to have all hands on deck, and make a lasting change in housing."

Along with the donation from the foundations, the Atlanta City Council will vote on whether to prove the extra $100 million for the effort, which would be paid with municipal bonds.

Funds will either build new units or preserve affordability in existing public housing units.

"Whether in the Adair Park neighborhood or on Moreland Avenue in Reynoldstown or in Cascade or in Buckhead, with $200 million we are coming to a neighborhood near you," Dickens said.

The funds will also help projects that have been stagnant over rising interest funds.

Officials say residents should see groundbreaking in the next few months.