The Atlanta City Design projects the City will grow to 1.2 Million people by 2040. That’s more than 35,000 new Atlantans a year, every year for the next 20 years! We think the Atlanta City Design lays out two good premises for how to think about the challenge this level of growth presents:
Do you agree with the first premise? Any reservations or comments?
Do you agree with the second premise? Any reservations or comments?
What kind of opportunities/challenges do you think this level of growth presents for the City?
What are you hearing from your potential constituents about their hopes, fears, aspirations, and frustrations about this potential growth?
Control over land use is one of the most important powers granted to local officials. Allowing more housing in neighborhoods that have existing amenities or are planned to receive new ones is a powerful and low-cost tool to ensure more Atlantans have access to thriving, walkable neighborhoods that they can afford.
What is your position on increasing the types of housing (duplexes, triplexes, townhomes, cottage courts etc.) that can be built by-right (i.e. without re-zonings)?
What parts of the City do you see as priority areas for more dense housing? Please be specific: specific neighborhoods, cross streets, etc.
Are there any areas of Atlanta where you think housing growth should NOT be allowed? Please be specific: specific neighborhoods, cross streets, etc.
Oftentimes, proposed developments that could help increase housing supply - including the affordable housing supply - for the City are met with intense local opposition. How will you balance the opinions of existing local neighbors with the overall needs of the City?
What additional policies will you pursue to increase home construction in Atlanta?
Last year, the Urban Land Institute wrote a report on the residential affordability of the five-county metro area. They help point out the wide range of types of people who are cost-burdened: from nurses to teachers to firefighters to cashiers, they all have widely different salaries but nonetheless all struggle to find sufficient housing affordable to them.
How do you think about solving the housing crisis for people across the income spectrum?
Right now, the City of Atlanta is in the midst of developing its Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) alongside Zoning 2.0. Thus far, we have learned that:
1) the future land use map created through the CDP will only be a non-binding plan and won't be implemented as actual legal changes to zoning;
2) the zoning rewrite will update the code but will not address the fundamental inequities that lie within the City's zoning; and
3) so far, the participants in both processes have been overwhelmingly very high income and homeowners.
Given that these processes are intended to only minimally change what homes are allowed by our zoning laws, how do you intend to lead on zoning reform through your role on City Council? What will be your priority legislative zoning reforms?
Low-income households face the greatest challenges in affording high-quality housing in amenity-rich neighborhoods. Currently, the City has a shortfall of 16,000 homes for families making $30,000 or less. This gap is not distributed evenly, with inexpensive housing options concentrated in neighborhoods furthest away from jobs and other amenities. In the absence of decisive action, this gap will more than double to 36,000 by 2030.
How should we fund our local affordable housing trust fund? Please be specific about which local sources Atlanta should consider.
Every analysis of our City that looks at our needs by neighborhood identifies a divide, where some neighborhoods are amenity-rich (jobs, restaurants, grocery stores, medical services) and lack a high supply of affordable housing, while others lack many of those same amenities but offer relatively more affordable housing.
How will you create City-wide policies that reflect these differences?
As the City continues to observe thousands of Atlantans experiencing homelessness each year, how will you approach preventing bouts of homelessness and rehousing your constituents?
The City of Atlanta has begun implementing some innovative solutions to its homelessness problem, including using shipping containers as temporary shelter. How will you ensure that these efforts are able to grow and that neighborhoods across the City do their fair share without overburdening majority Black neighborhoods?
Are there other policies you will advance to promote housing stability for existing residents?
Several existing policy proposals have been put forth to address our housing and related issues. Please indicate your support or opposition for each of these specific proposals.
Allow by-right construction of small apartment buildings near MARTA stations
Repeal residential parking mandates across the City
Update the ADU Ordinance to increase production of low-cost housing options
Require any development funded by Invest Atlanta to require parking to be unbundled (leased separately from the unit)
Eliminate minimum lot sizes
Implement density bonus programs to increase the allowable number of units within a development in return for reserving a portion of units for low- to moderate-income families
Would you like to clarify anything?
Why is housing affordability personal to you?
What work have you done to advocate for housing?
Is there anything else you'd like us to know about you as we consider our endorsement?
