Atlanta showcases future affordable housing goals
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Wil could barely lean backward to take an external shot of 2 Peachtree without falling over. Meanwhile, Atlanta's housing advisor looks like he's pondering over the city's next affordable housing plan. Photo: Wilborn Nobles/Axios
Do you want a skyline-view apartment in the heart of downtown Atlanta? Well, city leaders want to create that at the historic 2 Peachtree building.
Driving the news: Mayor Andre Dickens joined several officials Thursday at 2 Peachtree to comment on the city's latest affordable housing efforts, and to officially open the Housing Help Center on the building's first floor.
- Eloisa Klementich, president and CEO of Atlanta's economic development arm, said at the event that Atlanta wants to build 400 units at 2 Peachtree — and make 200 of them affordable.
- City Hall housing advisor Joshua Humphries said they want to start construction in the next two years.
- City Hall senior advisor Courtney English told Axios the project's development partner will be revealed in the coming months.
What we don't know: How much will it cost to convert a 41-story office building into housing? Officials have yet to come up with an estimate. Atlanta paid $39 million for the state-owned building.
- Of note: Klementich said this is the first time in Atlanta's history that anyone is doing this type of conversion at this scale.
What they're saying: "This is bigger than just the units and just the numbers that we're talking about," Dickens said. It's about addressing the systemic racial and economic inequities that have plagued our underserved communities for decades."
- Humphries called this "a crisis moment" and said Atlanta wouldn't be accessible to people regardless of their income if the city failed to create enough quality housing.
By the numbers: Atlanta has collectively built about 3,000 units, with nearly 5,000 more to come, over the past two years.
- Atlanta Housing will offer residents 2,000 new housing vouchers next month.
- City Hall is also hosting an affordable housing week in January for developers to get express permitting and coordinated funding to move their projects forward faster.
What's next: Atlanta's $2 million eviction diversion program will open at 10am on Nov. 10 at the Housing Help Center.
- 40 shipping containers will be converted into homeless housing trailers before Christmas. The goal is to build 500 units citywide by 2025.
- A new anti-displacement fund will freeze taxes for more than 1,800 households for 20 years.
- Invest Atlanta's owner-occupied rehab program will soon provide up to $30,000 per household for critical health and safety repairs for seniors.
Yes, and: Atlanta is currently investing $300 million into housing via a $200 million public-private partnership and a $100 million bond. This fund will put Atlanta on track to close on 1,500 additional affordable units by year's end.
- The nonprofit Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta will have committed $20 million to building 600 units by year's end.
- Atlanta has completed 17 nuisance property interventions, bringing four high-priority properties into compliance, with five more on the way.
- The housing center has already provided housing services to 28 families prior to its official opening. The center is also available to residents at City Hall's office of constituent services Monday through Friday, 9am–5pm.
Flashback: In March, Central Atlanta Progress commissioned a feasibility study analyzing whether Downtown office buildings could be converted to residential.
Yes, but: Conversions can be costly and difficult thanks to plumbing overhauls and floor plan challenges, Axios' Kate Marino reports.
- After a pandemic-era spike in 2020, the number of conversions has dropped nationally. However, the number of projects in the pipeline is growing.