Beltline dedicated to more affordable housing units

When Atlantans came together a decade ago in a monumental grassroots movement to build the Atlanta Beltline, they had a vision to connect 45 neighborhoods and to revitalize those communities equitably and sustainably. Few could have imagined the level of transformation that has already happened. The Atlanta Beltline makes our city more desirable and competitive. The demand to live along the Atlanta Beltline and nearby parks has a downside though: rising housing prices.

Bold steps between public, private, and philanthropic partners launched construction of the Westside Trail — set to bring positive health and transportation opportunities to southwest Atlanta when it opens this year. However, unless similarly bold steps are taken to create and preserve affordability, particularly for residents in historically underserved neighborhoods, we are jeopardizing the envisioned Beloved Community. While neither specific to the Atlanta Beltline nor unique to Atlanta, we fall short when minimum-wage renters; elderly, fixed-income homeowners; and middle-class workers alike struggle to find quality affordable housing close to jobs, services, and good schools.

The problem is complex, there are no easy answers, and the solutions vary by need.

So who is responsible for addressing this challenge? Atlanta Beltline, Inc. (ABI) and the Atlanta Beltline Partnership (ABP)? Local, state, and federal elected leaders? Developers? Philanthropists? Agencies that build and finance affordable housing? Housing activists? The answer, of course, is all the above — and others, too.

Litigation and the recession crippled the planned funding for affordable housing around the Atlanta Beltline, severely limiting the ability to create affordable units. We are behind where we want to be. These obstacles are now cleared, and the City of Atlanta, ABI, Invest Atlanta, the Atlanta Housing Authority and others are making historically significant investments.

More than $132 million in new or redirected funding for affordable housing will be invested across the city in the coming years. Yet much more is required to meet the need. More funding — and a system that will make the most of additional resources.

How does Atlanta maximize our affordable housing delivery system? Best practices from other cities that are grappling with similar challenges offer important ideas including:

1) Developing clear responsibility, measurement, and accountability for a city-wide strategy.

2) Prioritizing long-term affordability and preserving existing affordability so we don’t need to keep investing scarce resources just to maintain the status quo.

3) Dedicating sustained and predictable funds so developers can plan for the inclusion of subsidized affordable units in their projects.

4) Requiring new residential developments to include a certain percentage of affordable housing.

5) Increasing anti-displacement efforts such as property tax relief through measures like the Westside Future Fund’s Anti-Displacement Tax Fund, policies that cap property tax increases, and owner-occupied rehab and anti-eviction support.

Implementing these solutions requires broad, sustained partnerships between the private sector, philanthropy, government, policy makers and local citizens. ABI and ABP are working collaboratively within several coalitions to fulfill our commitments to create mixed-income neighborhoods around the Atlanta Beltline that can reduce income inequality, health disparities, educational achievement gaps, and other symptoms of inequity.

If these sound like ambitious goals, they are no grander than the vision for the Atlanta Beltline itself. The project receives outsized attention and adulation because it is transformative. It can — and will — be equally positive and transformative for affordable housing in Atlanta. Doing so requires the same sort of monumental grassroots effort that helped launch the project. We stand ready to partner and advance these goals to ensure the Atlanta Beltline can be a national model for equitable development in the same way it is a national model for the future of urban transportation and greenspace. Dallas Clement chairs the Atlanta Beltline Partnership board, and is executive vice president and chief financial officer of Cox Enterprises, parent company of the AJC. John Somerhalder chairs the Atlanta Beltline Inc. board.