Andre Dickens doesn’t want to be compared to Keisha Lance Bottoms, but the incoming mayor doesn’t have much choice. When Dickens takes over from Bottoms next month, he’ll be charged with navigating the pandemic, fighting crime, and pulling Atlanta out of an affordable housing crisis—a daunting checklist that his predecessor has been chipping away at for years.
While crime, policing, and battling COVID-19 stole the spotlight during election season, conversations on housing affordability all but fell by the wayside. Dickens says he aims to change that when he’s sworn in.
“I’m just going to do it,” Dickens said in an interview with Atlanta Civic Circle. “I don’t care about who did what, so I’m not going to rate [Bottoms’] performance. We’re going to be aggressive on housing. It won’t be a secondary issue—it’s going to be primary.”
