Category: Sustainable Communities

By Karen Hatcher, CPM The housing market is hot, and sellers are realizing considerable increases in property values. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s latest Home Ownership Affordability Monitor, Metro Atlanta is no longer affordable. Historically low inventory, rising prices, and inflation is forcing Atlanta to look at creating real, sustainable solutions that will foster thriving communities and […]

By Meghan Maguire, Senior Associate, Communications at Reinvestment Fund When Nadine Ngouabe Dlodlo, a native of Cameroon, heard about the lack of affordable housing in Southwest Baltimore, she wanted to get involved. After a traditional bank turned her business plan down, she decided to go another route. When hearing about her vision to provide affordable […]

By Sara Haas, Sr. Director, Enterprise Community Partners   Much of the affordable housing in Atlanta is made up of small- and medium-scale multifamily rental properties that are affordable, even though they operate without government subsidies. This type of housing fills a critical and growing demand by providing affordable residences for low- and moderate-income families. If […]

Daphne Bond-Godfrey to succeed Sarah Kirsch  Urban Land Institute (ULI) Atlanta is pleased to announce the appointment of Daphne Bond-Godfrey to executive director effective March 10. Bond-Godfrey assumes the role from Sarah Kirsch, who served as executive director for eight years.    “It has been an absolute pleasure serving ULI Atlanta over the past decade,” said […]

By Yonina Gray, Director of External Relations at Reinvestment Fund CDFIs like Reinvestment Fund are positioned to connect the dots between community partners, financial institutions and policymakers to help drive healthy and equitable communities. This dot-connecting has allowed initiatives such as Invest Health to come to life to help a broader range of partners understand […]

By Ahmad Abu-Khalaf, Enterprise Community Partners Senior Research Analyst in Public Policy During February’s celebration of Black History Month, Enterprise is examining how barriers to housing affordability often highlight the legacies of systemic racism.  In the blog post below as well as in his white paper, Barriers and Opportunities to Creating Low-Density Multifamily Housing, Enterprise’s […]

We spoke with Jennifer about her long-time involvement with ULI Atlanta and her role on one of Atlanta’s most transformative development projects, The Stitch. Since the start of her career, Jennifer has cherished her involvement with ULI Atlanta, taking part in several of its committees and programs. When asked why she continues to be involved […]

By: Kandice Allen Mitchell The City of Atlanta Welcomes a New Administration On January 3, 2022, Atlanta welcomed its 61st mayor, Andre Dickens, a two-term council member and native son who promises to “usher in a new day” for the city to which he was born and raised. Over the course of his campaign, Mayor […]

For more than five years, statistics make clear the depth of the housing affordability crisis in our region– historically low housing stock; soaring housing costs for renters and homeowners; increasing numbers of cost-burdened residents; a global pandemic leading to supply chain shortages, among many other challenges.  In 2018, pre-pandemic housing affordability barriers prompted an 18-month […]

by Natasha Dowell, Lending Associate, Southeast, Reinvestment Fund The murders of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor in 2020 sparked a racial reckoning within our country and across the world. For Reinvestment Fund, the deaths of these and countless other Black people were painful, poignant reminders of our need to continue calling out and […]

By Meaghan Vlkovic, VP & Market Leader Southeast, Enterprise Community Partners  Across America there are more than half a million people experiencing homelessness on any given night; ten thousand live in Georgia. The reality is that Atlanta, home to one-third of Georgia’s homeless population, does not have the housing infrastructure necessary to end chronic homelessness. […]

By: Kenwin Hayes, Sr., Urban Land Institute Member and mTAP Chair (2021-2022); and Principal at ReUrbanis Advisors & Shirlynn Fortson, mTAP Co-Chair (2021-2022), Economic Development Director at City of Brookhaven (GA). “Whoever renders service to many puts himself in line for greatness – great wealth, great return, great satisfaction, great reputation, and great joy.” This […]

By Michael Norton, Ph.D., Chief Policy Analyst at Reinvestment Fund Public libraries and museums are deeply embedded in their communities in ways that enrich the wellbeing of local residents. Through their core services, programming, and partnerships with other organizations, they catalyze broader networks of support that meet a diverse range of needs for individuals, organizations, […]

Housing advocates and community leaders championed federal safety nets for renters and landlords alike as Covid-19 wreaked havoc on incomes and job stability. Concern over housing instability remains consistent despite an unprecedented amount of federal funding deployed to states and local governments. The problem is particularly acute for Black and brown communities, which are often […]

A recent research publication jointly produced by the Center for Community Progress, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Tackling Vacancy and Abandonment: Strategies and Impacts after the Great Recession, aims to share some of the best practices used to address the vacancy and blight created by abandoned homes created […]

By: Daphne Bond-Godfrey, Senior Director, ULI Atlanta Today Atlantans will cast their vote for the City’s next Mayor. In total, 14 candidates are running – all with a shared passion to enhance the future of our City. ULI Atlanta recently hosted a Mayoral Forum in collaboration with CREW Atlanta to dive into candidates’ views on […]

By Olivia Chatman, Program Associate – Food Initiatives, Reinvestment Fund Across the country, the shameful reality of limited access to healthy food plagues historically marginalized communities. It is an issue that is rooted in discriminatory policies and disinvestment, and is reflected in the 27.6 million people living in places with inequitable and inadequate access to […]

By now we know that historic (and nearly always intentional) disinvestment and extraction in communities of color has driven a dramatic gap in wealth and ownership by race. This disparity means people of color face steep and complex barriers to owning and controlling their homes and businesses. As the federal government debates upwards of $3.5 […]

By The Wilbert Group We spoke with Sheba about what fuels her passion for architecture, her multi-cultural heritage, and her involvement in ULI beginning with YLG to chairing this year’s Center for Leadership Designing more than just buildings In 2016 urban designer Sheba Ross was part of a team at HKS designing the new building […]

By Khaliff Davis, Director K-12 Lending, Reinvestment Fund Since its inception, the community development financial institution industry has been committed to providing capital to help expand opportunity for historically excluded communities. In recent years, the continued and often growing disparities in outcomes ranging from health to education to economic prosperity have led CDFIs like Reinvestment […]