In a move that could boost sales for some door and window companies in the region, residential building in Atlanta received a boon last week when Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced a partnership with Atlanta Housing and Invest Atlanta to provide $60 million in new spending for affordable housing projects. The new funds were approved by Atlanta Housing Board of Commissioners and are projected to create and preserve more than 2,000 new affordable housing units in the city.

The new funding means the Bottoms administration has reached 20 percent of the mayor’s pledge to leverage $1 billion toward housing affordability, to produce and preserve 20,000 units of affordable housing within the city of Atlanta by 2026.

“This is a prime example of what can happen when government, the private sector, and our nonprofit partners join together for the common good,” said Mayor Bottoms. “Today represents the new era of cooperation among our public and private partners that will help Atlanta remain a place where working families, and residents at all income levels, can afford to live and build their dreams as we become one Atlanta.”

The new funds will be used to build units, preserve existing affordable units and spur community revitalization through investment in new or existing multifamily developments and rehabilitation of owner-occupied single-family homes. Funds will be used to develop quality affordable housing in the City of Atlanta through co-investment funds with Invest Atlanta.

“This new funding is the result of true inter-agency collaboration,” said Terri Lee, City of Atlanta’s chief housing officer. “By creating new affordable housing mechanisms, and having a laser-like focus in identifying funding opportunities, we can continue to help make Atlanta a city that everyone can call home.”

The funding will be used towards several new and ongoing affordable housing programs, such as:

• Multifamily gap financing: to support new construction and acquisition or rehabilitation of multifamily properties within the city of Atlanta for long-term affordability.
• Small urban infill financing: to provide funding for small multifamily properties less than 100 units and single-family infill development with mixed-income affordability.
• A heritage owner-occupied rehab program: with $10 million allocated to the Heritage ORR Program, a joint effort from partners including Invest Atlanta, City of Atlanta, the Atlanta Housing Authority, Choice Atlanta, Synergy Real Estate, and several other organizations to help lower-income residents remain in their homes and avoid displacement.

“We, along with our partners, are focused on providing more affordable housing units throughout the city,” said Dr. Eloisa Klementich, president and CEO of Invest Atlanta. “Funding injections like this one will add to our already expansive and robust affordable housing toolkit to ensure greater equity and economic mobility in the City of Atlanta.”