Author Archives: Sean Keenan

When Atlanta Civic Circle reported on metro housing leaders’ visions for denser, more diverse, and, therefore, more affordable residential communities this time last year, it gave public officials plenty of food for thought—and even some explicit legislative proposals. So what’s changed since then? Not much, housing experts said this week. “We certainly haven’t seen any improvement in […]

Metro Atlanta tenants hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and rising housing costs are still seeking emergency rent relief—and people of color are the most severely affected, according to two new reports using data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey. Over 8% of renters in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metro statistical area applied for federal […]

As Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens crosses his 100th day on the job, some top city officials will be headed back to the job market. But Atlanta Housing CEO Eugene Jones said he’s confident he’ll be asked to stick around the city’s newly rejuvenated housing authority. Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant will step down in June, after […]

Forest Cove property owner Millennia Housing Management began meeting with the condemned complex’s tenants Wednesday about a relocation plan—but it may not succeed in moving all 211 households before the July 15 target date set by the Atlanta mayor’s office. “A lot is still up in the air,” due to the scarcity of apartments in […]

Forest Cove’s residents finally seem close to moving out of the Southside apartment complex that was condemned in December. Now, it’s up to city of Atlanta leaders and property owner Millennia Housing Management to make good on their promise to relocate the 211 households still living there by mid-July. Millennia is expected to sit down with […]

Forest Cove’s residents finally seem close to moving out of the Southside apartment complex that was condemned in December. Now, it’s up to city of Atlanta leaders and property owner Millennia Housing Management to make good on their promise to relocate the 211 households still living there by mid-July. Millennia is expected to sit down with […]

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens announced he’s crafting a new “affordable housing strike force” in his first State of the City address April 4, billing it as a “one-stop shop” to coordinate the city’s housing affordability efforts. But what exactly will be the group’s responsibilities? The strike force will launch in two weeks with top officials […]

A statewide zoning bill that would have further encumbered local efforts to increase residential density failed to cross the finish line when the Georgia General Assembly wrapped up the legislative session on Monday. House Bill 1406, which would have mandated additional hearings and public input before municipalities could rezone single-family properties, was approved by the state House […]

The 211 households living in squalor at southside Atlanta’s condemned Forest Cove apartments could be moved out by July 15, thanks to a deal orchestrated this week by Mayor Andre Dickens’ office and the property owner, Millennia Housing Management, city officials told Atlanta Civic Circle Thursday. The 396-unit Section 8 complex, some of which is vacant due […]

Atlanta’s public housing authority anticipates producing up to 958 new affordable homes in the 2023 fiscal year, which starts July 1, according to projections the agency approved last week. Atlanta Housing’s (AH) board of commissioners signed off on its latest Moving to Work plan, which now goes to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development […]

A two-acre land donation from the CF Foundation positions the Atlanta Land Trust (ALT) to build 40 townhomes for purchase — half deemed affordable for moderate-income Atlantans — in East Lake. Today, the site sits vacant, right behind the Glenwood Avenue Publix. But with the help of philanthropic investors and public subsidy, ALT plans to develop the Trust at […]

Atlanta Housing (AH) leaders on Wednesday voted to add homeownership units to the development plan for the former Perry Homes site and two neighboring Westside properties, earmarking almost a third as affordable. AH aims to introduce 223 houses and townhomes for purchase — including 64 at a price-point designated affordable — to the Perry Homes […]

City leaders, developers, and investors broke ground on 250 affordable housing units in Peoplestown on Tuesday, marking the halfway point for Atlanta Beltline Inc.’s mission to produce 5,600 affordable homes around the multi-use trail — which is now widely regarded as an engine of gentrification — by 2030. The Skyline Apartments, located at 1090 Hank […]

The Atlanta Housing (AH) board of commissioners expects to finally choose a master developer next month for the Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center, over four years after the housing authority bought the iconic Old Fourth Ward site, which has sat vacant for eight years. AH officials are now interviewing a shortlist of five candidates to develop […]

A bill cruising through the Georgia legislature that would add more obstacles to local rezoning initiatives could stunt efforts to ameliorate the housing crisis that has spread statewide, opponents told Atlanta Civic Circle this week. One way to create more affordable housing is to allow greater density in residential areas, but rezoning proposals generally face stiff opposition […]

Millennia Housing Management and the city of Atlanta are restarting resident relocation efforts from scratch for the Forest Cove apartments, which were condemned almost three months ago, Atlanta Civic Circle has learned. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens convened Millennia and top officials from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Georgia’s Department of Community Affairs […]

The 211 families still living at Forest Cove need new homes fast, after an Atlanta judge condemned the dangerously dilapidated Section 8 complex over two months ago. For now, however, they’ll have to keep waiting. The December condemnation order gave Forest Cove’s owner, Millennia Housing Management, until March 1 to relocate the families, but the […]

People living at extended-stay hotels won protection from informal, on-the-spot eviction this week, when the Georgia Court of Appeals ruled they should legally be recognized as residents, not guests, and, thus, are covered by landlord-tenant law. The March 7 decision found that Efficiency Lodge in south DeKalb County illegally kicked out three tenants in 2020 who […]

Columbia Residential has hired Carmen Chubb, an experienced public-sector executive, as president to help the developer “double the size” of its affordable housing construction to meet rapidly increasing need, CEO Jim Grauley told Atlanta Civic Circle. Columbia, one of Atlanta’s best-known affordable housing developers, owns and manages more than 6,500 mixed-income and below-market-rate multifamily units inside […]

The city of Atlanta could soon gain a housing chief to help the new mayor achieve his goal of producing 20,000 affordable units over the next eight years. During Wednesday’s Atlanta Regional Housing Forum, Mayor Andre Dickens committed to tapping a chief housing officer before the year’s end, saying his office is already seeking candidates for […]