Atlanta Housing Steps Up Efforts to Preserve and Build New Housing

It was a real turnaround for the Atlanta Housing Authority.

After years of relative inactivity, Atlanta Housing (AH) feels the urgency to develop more affordable housing to meet its goal of 10,000 additional units over the next six years.

Leading those efforts is Terri Lee, who became president and CEO of Atlanta Housing in February after serving as the agency’s chief operating officer starting in October 2020.

Lee is following a road map drawn up by an advisory group from the Urban Land Institute. A group of experts traveled to Atlanta last December and met with about 50 stakeholders to explore ways the agency could increase its output and impact.

The recently released final report outlines ways Atlanta Housing could build on best practices from other cities to regain its national leadership as an innovator in public housing.

“With the AH lands, it became very clear to me that if we were going to act as aggressively as we needed to, we needed to look for the best ideas and engage different partners,” Lee said in a recent interview. “One of the things that was helpful for me was understanding the best practices of other cities and how they were addressing the affordable housing gap.”

The report said there is a $500 million funding gap in Atlanta Housing’s plan to generate new housing, but agency leaders were quick to say they are deliberately ambitious and working to find creative ways to meet those goals.

The ULI report validated this sentiment.

“AH stands on the brink of a transformational era,” the report concludes. “AH’s ambitious goal of creating and preserving 10,000 affordable homes requires a multi-pronged, strategic approach that transcends traditional financing models and emphasizes both community impact and financial sustainability.”

During the interview, Lee talked about the future. On his office wall is a painting by Janssen Robinson titled “The Regeneration of Bowen Homes.” Robinson painted the painting while the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development was in town in May 2023 for a site tour of the 74-acre Bowen Homes. HUD eventually awarded Atlanta a $40 million Choice Grant for the Bowen Homes redevelopment.

“This painting speaks to where we’re going,” Lee said. “It means a lot to me.”

AH Vice President Sarah Kirsch says it’s time to be ambitious. Kirsch has been in the housing industry for years. She was executive director of ULI-Atlanta, when she co-chaired HouseATL, which presented 23 recommendations to the City of Atlanta in 2018. She now works at the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta as managing director of housing funds.

“The ULI report allows AH to position itself as a true housing leader in our city and region,” Kirsch said in a phone interview. “There was a period where Atlanta Housing wasn’t producing a lot of housing, and you want your housing authority to be at the top of the hierarchy. I think this helps reposition Atlanta Housing to be a leader.”

When she joined AH’s board two years ago, Kirsch realized that many projects on agency-owned land were not moving forward due to funding shortfalls.

“We didn’t really understand the infrastructure needed to prepare land assets for mixed-income housing,” Kirsch said, adding that ULI experts emphasized the need for AH to be opportunistic in closing financial gaps, leveraging its land and engaging strategic partners. “We have ambitious goals and we know we need the best solutions to help us achieve them and be the best stewards of our land.”

Lee, who had not yet been named CEO when the ULI committee visited town last December, has already taken many of its recommendations to heart. The report said the agency needed more in-house expertise to accelerate development and implement new financing models. It also needed to find ways to finance infrastructure on its territory to prepare it for development.

“The financing model we were using before had to be redone,” Lee said.

Larry Stewart, chairman of the AH board, said the ULI report was helpful.

“We have already started implementing some of the recommendations,” he said. “It was a new day with the new team and the reorganization that we have put in place.”

The question is how AH can “energize the work we’re doing to help the process,” Steward added. “I’m excited about the direction we’re going. We’re working to transform the earth.”

The agency’s reorganization — the appointment of Alan Ferguson Sr. as director of housing and real estate, a new consolidated position, and Dwayne Vaughn as permanent chief operating officer — was “crucial,” Lee said.

“We wanted to make sure we had the capacity to move forward with the housing agenda that we set out,” Lee said. “We knew we needed diversified funding resources and creative ways to fill potential funding gaps.”

Lee said the AH has reached 40 percent of its goal of preserving and creating 10,000 homes. Under its budget for the current fiscal year, 84 percent of its resources will be devoted to housing development and housing vouchers.

AH is also a major player in Mayor Andre Dicken’s Housing Strike Task Force, which brings together public agencies, such as Invest Atlanta, Atlanta Beltline, MARTA and Atlanta Public Schools, to find ways to work together to develop more affordable housing.

“Thanks to the mayor’s task force on housing, all the agencies are moving very aggressively,” said Lee, who added that the report helped identify best practices in other cities to see how they are addressing their affordable housing funding gaps. “The report also reinforced for me the importance of engaging with the people we serve, not doing things in a vacuum, and planning with residents and communities in mind. We want to make sure they are part of the process.”

The report recommended that the AH establish closer partnerships with MARTA and the Beltline to build affordable housing near transit. It also recommended that the agency fully embrace green building practices to reduce energy costs for future residents.

The report applauds Atlanta’s efforts to raise $300 million for affordable housing. In addition to the city’s $100 million Housing Opportunity Fund, the Community Foundation has raised about $150 million from philanthropic sources, Kirsch said.

Daphne Bond-Godfrey, ULI Atlanta’s current executive director, called this type of philanthropic investment “unprecedented,” and it’s just one example of how Atlanta is leading the way.

“Atlanta has been and continues to be a national thought leader on housing policy implementation,” she wrote in a text. She cited the Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, the Atlanta Land Trust and Purpose Built Communities as organizations leading the way, among others.

“There are very few other places in the country that are investing at this scale, combining public and private funds to address needs,” she said. “Leadership in housing requires strong political will, as demonstrated by HouseATL’s efforts and Mayor Dickens’s strong focus on housing.”

Bond-Godfrey mentioned that in February 2025, ULI’s Terwilliger Housing Center will hold its next conference on housing opportunities in Atlanta, another example of how the city is seen as a national leader.

“We are entering an era of transformation,” Lee said. “I am excited to have the opportunity to lead this agency into its next era. We have an enormous challenge and an opportunity before us. I embrace it wholeheartedly. I am moving forward with all the urgency of this moment.”

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