Inside City Hall: Councilman seeks affordable housing trust fund increase

The Community Development Human Services Committee chairman for Atlanta City Council wants to increase the city trust fund for affordable housing which, if approved, would put the city on track with the requirements of its own legislation.

Atlanta City Councilman Jason Dozier is proposing an ordinance to allocate an additional $3.5 million to the trust fund. This week, the council’s CDHS and Finance Executive committees could have an opportunity to advance that legislation to the full council for approval next month.

“Atlanta has accrued the highest reserves in city history, we maintain superior credit ratings, and we now have an uncommitted fund balance of more than $240 million,” Dozier said. “But I’m even prouder to advance the work of making housing a budget priority. It’s now or never.”

Dozier’s legislation would take money from Atlanta’s uncommitted fund to increase the city’s $106 million non-departmental general fund, which is the account where Mayor Andre Dickens allocated $8 million for the housing trust fund — a 15% increase over last year’s contribution.

But the council previously established the trust fund in 2021 to allocate 1.5% of their fiscal year 2024 general fund to housing efforts. Housing advocates chided Dickens last month for not allocating the full $11 million to the fund. Dickens later unveiled a partnership with the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta for a historic $200 million investment into building and preserving 20,000 affordable units by 2026.

Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com

Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com

Incidentally, Dickens also took heat from advocates last year for not initially budgeting for the trust fund at all. After that criticism, Dickens announced plans to spend $58.7 million on housing — without the additional taxpayer burdens — using federal and philanthropic funds. The philanthropy dollars came from the “Gulch” deal cemented by former Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who said in 2021 that the trust fund would be focused on anti-displacement and home down payment assistance.

Dan Immergluck, a Georgia State University urban studies professor, told us Friday that Dozier’s legislation is a good proposal. He also said the city council should rely on other parts of the budget to reinforce code enforcements. The council recently OK’d plans to use $800,000 from the trust fund to hire more solicitor attorneys for property violations.

“I would also recommend that they include language to restrict use to the development or renovation of housing or to direct rental assistance to tenants,” Immergluck said.

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Coming soon: Dickens is teaming up Destination Tomorrow, a Black Trans-led LGBTQ+ center in Atlanta, to kick off Atlanta’s upcoming LGBTQ Youth Mentorship Pilot Program. The city is inviting potential mentors, mentees, and supporters to a dinner and conversation about the program at 6 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall.

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109: That’s Atlanta’s ranking among the nation’s 149 largest cities when it comes to operating efficiency, according to experts at the personal finance firm known as WalletHub. According to the Governing Magazine article titled “The Best and Worst Run Cities in America,” a rank of 1 (shoutout to Nampa, Idaho) “represents the highest quality of city services, and the smallest budget per capita.”

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Holiday closures: Dickens recently issued an executive order for the city government to observe an “Administrative Holiday” on July 3 in advance of the Independence Day holiday “in recognition of the many accomplishments and exceptional work of city employees during Fiscal Year 2023.”

Additionally, the administration announced that Atlanta’s government facilities will be closed to the public beginning at noon on Friday. Employees deemed essential for public safety or operational needs will still report to work, according to City Hall.

The city government will reopen next Wednesday after their early closure on June 30. As a result, the council’s next full meeting will occur July 5 at 1 p.m.

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