Beltline’s lofty goal needs work

The Atlanta Beltline is an audacious project that’s earned acclaim as users crowd completed portions of the planned 22-mile loop.

The trail network and its amenities have kindled jaw-dropping development adjacent to its path. It’s a sign of just how trendy urban living has become, even in a suburb-centric region such as metro Atlanta.

The Beltline’s great circle was intended to be more, however, we believe. The project’s backers themselves made much of its potential to unite disparate parts of Atlanta in new ways. That’s an appropriate and admirable goal, given the trail links neighborhoods both thriving and struggling.

That’s an important matter in greater Atlanta, where disparate levels of income, poverty and opportunity are stunningly large. The chain that is the Beltline was intended, in good part, to bridge some of those gaps and better spread access to prosperity across a great city.

Specifically, sparking development of nearby affordable housing is part of the Beltline’s stated goals. That is a noble and worthwhile endeavor

– and one that should be a much-higher priority than it’s been to date.

A report in last Sunday’s The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows that the public-private partnership that powers The Atlanta Beltline has, so far, fallen well short of this important goal. That should change. Doing so requires the Beltline’s leaders to redouble efforts to provide more housing that’s affordable to more people. Doing so is a matter of equity and shouldn’t slow the juggernaut of economic benefits accruing alongside the Beltline.

Reporting by a partnership of the AJC and The Georgia News Lab found that, “halfway to the Beltline’s scheduled completion, it has only funded 785 affordable homes, more than 200 of which remain under construction.” To put that in perspective, Atlanta Beltline Inc. by 2030 was supposed to produce at least 5,600 affordable houses and apartments – a metric so important that the Atlanta City Council put it into law.

There’s no denying the importance of providing decent housing that’s within financial reach of more people of modest means. It’s a difficult national challenge and one that cannot, by any reasonable measure, be laid fully at the Beltline’s doorstep. It’s a much bigger issue than that.

To be fair, the Great Recession that pummeled both the economy and local real estate development threw a large hitch into plans. The worst downturn since the Great Depression does not, however, fully explain the Beltline’s shortcomings in this regard.

The July 16 AJC reported that Beltline Inc. has passed up millions of dollars in potential funds that could have more than doubled the affordable housing budget. And some housing units that were brought to market have already seen affordability restrictions expire. That’s led to units being sold at market rates, which can mean well above the scope of “affordable.” Beltline officials also pushed for accounting changes that would make their affordable housing goals easier to reach. Last fall, the agency only boosted spending on affordable property after the city’s economic development agency, Invest Atlanta, withheld approval of its annual budget for some months.

Much more is to be expected of an organization that proudly stated in its 2013 Strategic Implementation Report that, “Grassroots advocates, business, civic, political and community leaders are driving the Atlanta Beltline’s implementation with their ideas and aspirations, inspired by a once-in-a-generation opportunity to renew our city and create a national model of healthier, more sustainable, interconnected neighborhoods with greater mobility and economic opportunity for all.”

That’s a powerful partnership, even given the stretch goals they laid out for themselves. The Beltline organization should make their ideals come fully into existence. Even steadily rising real estate values along the Beltline, a tangible example of the project’s success, should not be permitted to tamp down, or obliterate, the admirable goal of providing housing accessible to a wider range of incomes.

Achieving the promise likely demands a stronger, multi-faceted approach to creating mixed-income housing. Fully leveraging tactics outlined in the Beltline’s own plans, as well as taking maximum advantage of any other applicable programs seem fruitful places to begin making headway.

Nothing less should be acceptable for an entity that expressed the good and lofty ideal that its work should “Integrate and coordinate public and private realms to create a holistic solution to economic, environmental and social issues ...”

With a redoubling of effort, we believe exactly that can be done. Then the Beltline can truly be the international exemplar of urban design and redevelopment that it should be. And Atlantans from all walks of life will benefit. Andre Jackson, for the Editorial Board.