Local
ARC sets 10 priorities to expand Metro Atlanta housing options by 2035
The Atlanta Regional Commission has outlined 10 actions to help meet its targets for new homes, affordability and reuse of vacant land. The plan calls for regional coordination, but most of the work will fall to local governments and other partners.
The Atlanta Regional Commission has laid out 10 actions intended to help Metro Atlanta add housing and narrow its affordability gap by 2035, including a regional housing dashboard, transit-oriented development and efforts to prevent homelessness.
Commission leaders presented the actions at an Oct. 14 board meeting as the next phase of Housing Forward 2035, the region’s first Regional Housing Strategy. The plan’s targets include building 367,000 homes by 2035, cutting in half the affordability gap for households earning less than $55,000 a year, and building homes on 10% of vacant or underused parcels in the region.
The strategy was prompted by projections that, if current population growth continues, 75% of Metro Atlanta residents earning below $55,000 a year could lack a “housing solution” by 2035.
The 10 actions call for connecting transportation and land-use programs with local housing efforts; creating a certification and toolkit for communities ready to support housing; tracking progress through a regional dashboard; and encouraging development on underused sites, including near transit. Other priorities include expanding funding for housing construction and preservation, involving employers and workers, coordinating homelessness prevention and response, improving housing communications, educating stakeholders about state policy changes, and evaluating ways to preserve and stabilize existing housing.
The ARC is expected to lead only some of the work. For most actions, its role will be to bring together and support partners, including local governments, funders and employers. The commission plans to connect transportation and land-use decisions through special studies, develop the dashboard and create a regional communications strategy.
Housing Plan Coordinator Kristen Allen said housing efforts can be difficult to carry out when information is fragmented among communities, employers and other stakeholders. A regional communications effort, she said, would help bring those groups into the discussion.
“It’s one thing to have a conversation about policy or do the supportive things,” ARC Executive Director and CEO Anna Roach said. Meeting the region’s agreed-upon housing targets, she added, is where the plan’s work will be tested.
The ARC plans to divide the actions into short- and medium-term timelines covering the next two years. It expects to present county and city targets in November, followed by a vote on formal adoption by the full board in January. Roach said the local targets are intended to help the commission work with jurisdictions on action plans suited to their communities.