City of Atlanta to invest $11M in affordable housing, curb evictions
The city of Atlanta is making a massive investment into affordable housing. More than $11 million will be used to build affordable rental units.
Channel 2′s Richard Elliot has learned that some of that money will be used to stop evictions from happening.
Critics argue that the city shouldn’t be building new affordable rental units -- that’s for private developers.
But the city says since it’s put so much investment in building infrastructure like the Atlanta BeltLine, and since the BeltLine is driving up rents, it should do this.
Deborah Blalock knows what it’s like to be evicted. She got kicked out of her rental unit and lived in a shelter until she found her current apartment along Atlanta’s BeltLine.
“I was thrown out in the street, hanging with homeless people. It was cold that night,” Blalock said. “We need to stop this evicting.”
The city of Atlanta has seen a sharp rise in evictions since the end of the pandemic. We also saw an end to rules preventing them.
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Atlanta city councilmember Matt Westmoreland led the charge to set aside $11.6 million for affordable housing.
“I think housing affordability is a topic of increasing concern to a whole lot of people,” Westmoreland said.
About $6 million of that will go to building new rental units for people making less than 50% of the median income. Some $2 million will help with what he calls eviction diversion.
Critics insist that building apartments or helping pay rents is not a responsibility of city government.
Westmoreland defends the allocation, saying Atlanta is responsible for higher rents because it’s investing in infrastructure like the BeltLine.
“As we make investments that drive up rents, I believe, and I think I’ve got colleagues behind me that unanimously supported this legislation believe that we have to help legacy residents who are most impacted by the growth we’ve seen stay in their homes,” Westmoreland said.
In a statement, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said he supported these efforts to provide affordable housing.
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