Atlanta Housing ramping up efforts to preserve, build new housing

It’s been quite a turnaround for the Atlanta Housing Authority. 

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

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

Lee is following a roadmap laid out by an Advisory Services Panel for the Urban Land Institute. A panel of experts came 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 described ways Atlanta Housing could build upon the best practices of other cities with a goal of reclaiming its national leadership as an innovator in the public housing industry. 

“With AH-owned land, it became very clear to me that if we were going to move as aggressively as we needed to, we had to seek out some of the best thinking and engage different partners,” Lee said in a recent interview. “One of the things that was helpful was to understand best practices in other cities and how they were addressing the affordable housing financial gap.”

The report stated there’s a $500 million financing gap in Atlanta Housing’s plan to generate new housing, but agency leaders were quick to say they purposefully are being ambitious, and they are working to find creative ways to reach those goals.

The ULI report validated that sentiment.

“AH stands at the precipice of a transformative era,” the report concluded. “AH’s ambitious goal to create and preserve 10,000 affordable housing units necessitates a strategic, multi-pronged approach that transcends traditional funding models and emphasizes both community impact and financial sustainability.”

During the interview, Lee kept talking about the future. On the wall of her office, there’s a painting by Janssen Robinson called “the Regeneration of Bowen Homes.” Robinson did the painting while the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development was in town in May 2023 on a site visit to the 74-acre Bowen Homes site. HUD ended up awarding Atlanta a $40 million Choice grant for the redevelopment of Bowen Homes. 

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

Sarah Kirsch, vice chair of AH, believes it’s time to be aspirational. Kirsch has been in the housing space for years. She was executive director of ULI-Atlanta, when she co-chaired HouseATL that presented 23 recommendations to the City of Atlanta in 2018. Now she is with the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta as its managing director of housing funds.

“The ULI report helps position AH to be a true leader in housing in our city and region,” Kirsch said in a phone interview. “There was a period where Atlanta Housing was not producing much housing, and you want your housing authority to be at the top of the spear. I think this helps reposition Atlanta Housing to be in a leadership position.”

When she joined AH’s board two years ago, Kirsch realized a lot of projects on agency-owned land were not moving forward because of funding gaps.

“We didn’t really understand the infrastructure needed to get the land assets ready to support mixed-income housing,” said Kirsch, adding the ULI experts reinforced the need for AH to be opportunistic to bridge financial gaps, leverage its land and bring in strategic partners. “We have set ambitious goals, and we know we need the best solutions to help us get there and be the best stewards of our land.”

Lee, who had not yet been named as CEO when the ULI panel was in town last December, already has taken many of its recommendations to heart. The report stated the agency needed to have more expertise in house to jump start development and put together new financing models. And it needed to develop ways to pay for infrastructure on its land to prepare it for development. 

“The funding model we used to use needed to be redone,” Lee said.

Larry Stewart, AH’s board chair, said the ULI report has been helpful.

“We have already been implementing some of the recommendations,” he said. “It was a new day when we got a new team and how we have reorganized.”

The question is how AH can “supercharge the work we are doing to help the process along,” Steward added. “I’m excited about where we are going. We are working on turning dirt.”

Reorganizing the agency — naming Alan Ferguson Sr. as chief housing and real estate officer, a new consolidated position, and Dwayne Vaughn as the permanent chief operating officer — has been “pivotal,” Lee said.

“We wanted to make sure we have the right capacity to help push forward the robust housing agenda that we’ve set out,” Lee said. “We knew we needed diversified funding resources and creative ways to close any funding gaps.”

Lee said AH is at 40 percent of its goal to preserve and create 10,000 housing units. In its current fiscal year budget, 84 percent of its resources will go toward housing development and housing vouchers.

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

“Through the Mayor’s Housing Strike Force, all the agencies are moving very aggressively,” said Lee, who added the report helped identify best practices in other cities to see how they were addressing their affordable housing financial gaps. “The report also reinforced for me the importance of engaging with the people we serve, that we are not doing this in a vacuum and planning on top of residents and communities. We want to make sure they are part of the process.”

The report did recommend that AH build closer partnerships with MARTA and the Beltline to build affordable housing close to transit. It also recommended that the agency fully embrace green building practices to keep down the energy costs for future residents.

The report did applaud Atlanta for its 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, the current executive director of ULI Atlanta, called that kind of philanthropic investment “unprecedented,” and it is just one example of how Atlanta is leading the way.

“Atlanta is and continues to be a thought leader nationally in 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 that are leading the way, among others.

“There are very few other places around the country making investments at this scale using a combination of public and private dollars to meet the need,” she stated. “Leadership in housing requires strong political will, which we’ve seen demonstrated by HouseATL’s efforts and Mayor Dickens’ laser focus on housing.”

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

“We are entering into a transformative era, “Lee said. “I’m enjoying the opportunity to lead this agency in its next era. We have a huge challenge and opportunity before us. I’m embracing it wholeheartedly. I’m moving with the full urgency of now.”