The Atlanta City Council adopted legislation during Monday’s remote meeting to ratify the Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms executive order directing the investment of $50 million in new bond funding for the production and preservation of affordable housing in Atlanta
“The passage of this legislation is a significant step in fulfilling our $1 billion commitment to the creation and preservation of affordable housing for all who call or wish to call Atlanta home,” Bottoms said. “Thank you to City Council and our partners for assisting the Administration in ensuring that the future of this city does not price out our legacy residents or leave anyone behind.”
The executive order directs the issuance of $50 million in bonds for affordable housing, which will be structured to take advantage of the current low-interest-rate environment.
It also directs City officials to take the necessary actions to expand on these funds to ultimately issue $100 million in housing opportunity bonds.
The City will deploy the $100 million in new affordable housing funds to repay the initial bonds and continue to implement the housing activities included in the Administration’s Housing Opportunity Bond legislation, introduced earlier this year and stalled due to the impact of the pandemic on the City’s finances.
In 2019, Mayor Bottoms released the Administration’s Housing Affordability Action Plan—a roadmap to increase the supply of housing in the City of Atlanta for a full spectrum of residents.
This plan calls for the creation or preservation of 20,000 affordable homes by 2026 and investing City-controlled public sources in the production and preservation of affordable housing.
Since taking office, the Bottoms Administration has committed more than $495 million to create or preserve more than 5,600 units of affordable housing.
Additionally, the City’s chief operating officer and chief financial officer are able to take any actions necessary to request the issuance of the Series 2021 Draw-Down Bonds in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed $50 million and the authorization and pre-validation of additional bonds in the aggregate principal amount not to exceed $100 million.
The City will be able to draw down these funds in a manner that minimizes the near-term costs to the City and allows time for Atlanta’s economy to bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic.
