Housing in the Atlanta Region

Fostering Quality, Affordable Housing Options

Metro Atlanta has long been an affordable place to live, helping fuel our region’s explosive growth. advantage and meet the needs of households across the region.

Quality, affordable housing options should be widely available, in communities large and small, urban and suburban. We all need places to live that won’t break our budgets while offering access to vital resources like healthy food, proximity to job centers, and quality transportation options.

The Atlanta Regional Commission is working to help local governments, nonprofit organizations, and other stakeholders better understand the region’s housing challenges and also explore potential solutions.

Increasing the availability of quality, affordable housing will help the entire region thrive by providing:

• A stronger economy: Metro Atlanta will remain a destination for employers looking to expand, keeping our economy growing. And businesses will find it easier to hire and retain workers who are able to live close to job centers.
• Better quality of life: Communities and schools will become more stable, as fewer families move in search of cheaper rent. More affordable housing options also means fewer people will have to put off spending on vital services, such as healthcare.
• Greater opportunities and reduced inequality: Increased levels of home ownership will help people build wealth and climb the socio-economic ladder and reduce the “wealth gap” that exists between owners and renters.
• Reduced traffic congestion: More people will be able to live closer to where they work. That means fewer vehicles on the road, reduced traffic congestion, and improved air quality.

Learn More & Stay Engaged

Metro Atlanta Housing Strategy: Explore Housing Solutions

ARC has developed the Metro Atlanta Housing Strategy, an interactive digital toolkit that provides detailed information and data about the region’s housing market to the neighborhood level and offers a set of actionable steps local communities can take to address their housing challenges and provide a better range of quality, affordable housing options.

The goal is to foster a greater mix of housing options in the region, reflective of each community’s specific housing needs. This is achieved through six strategies to increase affordable housing options and bring about meaningful change:

• Increase housing supply to promote affordability by providing the necessary tools for developers to contribute to the supply of both market-rate and affordable housing units.
• Preserve supply of affordable housing units to ensure that they remain accessible to low- to moderate-income households.
• Reduce housing and transportation costs by increasing housing options near job centers and advancing mobility options throughout the region.
• Expand capital resources by providing financial incentives and mechanisms to foster the creation and preservation of affordable housing units.
• Promote housing stability to ensure that residents can remain in their homes and communities.
• Develop leadership and collaboration on housing to promote and enable education, communication, and collaboration around housing issues.

Metro Atlanta Housing Strategy – Executive Summary

A Guide to Help Communities Understand Their Housing Challenges and Explore Solutions through Actionable Strategies.

Learn more at: metroatlhousing.org

Download

Atlanta Regional Housing Forum: Stay Engaged and Informed on Housing Issues

The Atlanta Regional Housing Forum, co-hosted by ARC and the Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, is a quarterly educational event designed to engage affordable housing and community development stakeholders from a broad cross-section of audiences.

The forum attracts regional and national leaders to speak on current housing issues including: affordable housing, transportation, healthy communities, and other related matters.

Housing Resources:

• Metro Atlanta Housing Data Explorer
• Metro Atlanta Eviction Tracker
• Livable Centers Initiatve

Housing News From ARC

• Podcast – Community Land Trusts: Boosting Housing Affordability and Fighting Gentrification
• ARC Awards LCI Planning Grants to 11 Metro Atlanta Communities
• Podcast: Community Land Trusts: Boosting Housing Affordability and Fighting Gentrification