Category: Sustainable Communities

By Laurie Schoeman, Sr. Program Director and Sara Haas, Director, Enterprise Community Partners According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, seven of Atlanta’s 10 hottest years have taken place in the past decade.  In fact, 2019 was the warmest year since tracking began in the 1870s. The escalating heat, elevated levels of rainfall and […]

By: Malory Atkinson (Shear Structural) and Delilah Wynn-Brown (HJ Russell & Company) In real estate terms, the pandemic has been called “the great accelerant”, accelerating trends already underway leading up to 2020.  Whether it was a shift away from brick and mortar retail, the shift toward suburban town centers, or the affordable housing shortage, the […]

Access to quality and affordable homes is critical to building sustainable, healthy communities. Through our lending and research practices, Reinvestment Fund is committed to increasing access to housing that is affordable and safe for all people. In addition to lending to develop affordable housing, Reinvestment Fund has also long studied how to improve equity in […]

By Kandice Mitchell, Director of State & Local Policy, Southeast, Enterprise Community Partners In December 2020, the City of Atlanta introduced Atlanta City Design: Housing, a framework that guides urban planning through a set of policy proposals that aim to expand opportunities for housing density, affordability, and inclusivity.  This expansive approach to redesign would be […]

Expanding Housing Choice: How residential zoning reform can improve equitable access to affordable housing and economic opportunity Single-family residential zoning first began in 1916 as an effort to keep minorities out of white neighborhoods. The US Supreme Court’s 1917 ruling declared explicit race-based zoning statutes unconstitutional. But the same court ruled less than a decade […]

Christina Szczepanski, Managing Director, Southeast, Reinvestment Fund For decades, historically excluded communities in neighborhoods across America have lived with the consequences of the development process happening to them and not with them. Oftentimes projects are developed based on market trends and expected returns with little attention to what the local community actually needs or wants.  […]

By Tim Block, Sr. Program Director, Enterprise Community Partners When you think of faith-based organizations (FBOs) like churches, synagogues, or temples, you probably think of how they provide spiritual connection and a sense of community for attendees. Many also provide a variety of services such as food pantries, childcare and other community resources. Houses of […]

ULI Atlanta is so pleased to share the appointment of three members to significant leadership positions in the Americas and globally for the Urban Land Institute. All three of these individuals have provided remarkable leadership to ULI Atlanta and ULI more broadly over the years in the advancement of ULI’s mission to “Shape the future […]

How residential zoning reform can improve equitable access to affordable housing and economic opportunity Single-family residential zoning first began in 1916 as an effort to keep minorities out of white neighborhoods. The US Supreme Court’s 1917 ruling declared explicit race-based zoning statutes unconstitutional. But the same court ruled less than a decade later that zoning […]

By Yonina Gray, Director of External Relations, Reinvestment Fund A new report by the Othering and Belonging Institute finds that 81% of US metro regions are more segregated today than they were twenty years ago. In a series on “George Floyd’s America,” The Washington Post explored the effect of systemic racism on Floyd’s life. It […]

By Sara Haas, Director, Southeast Market, Enterprise Community Partners Columbia at Capitol View in Adair Park has ample green space, sits along the Atlanta BeltLine Westside Trail, and provides quality, affordable housing to the residents of all its units. But until quite recently, it didn’t look like this. Not too long ago, Capitol View, a […]

The unofficial theme of the ULI Atlanta Center for Leadership (CFL) Class of 2021 was rising to the moment and finding new pathways to connect, collaborate and conduct “business as usual” when the world was anything but. Much of the year focused on meaningful conversations about what Atlanta is getting right, and where challenges continue to […]

By George Burgan, ANDP and Rachael Dempsey, HGF Healthcare Georgia Foundation is working with ANDP to address health and housing disparities across Georgia According to the National Center for Healthy Housing, 40 percent of U.S. homes have at least one health or safety hazard. This means that 35 million homes have problems ranging from broken […]

Robert Cox and Khaliff Davis, Reinvestment Fund An affordable home in a healthy neighborhood is fundamental to safety, stability, and opportunity. Community development financial institutions (CDFIs) like Reinvestment Fund play a vital role in using flexible capital to support housing that is affordable and responsive to the needs of the local community. Flexible capital includes […]

By Kandice Allen Mitchell, Esq. Southeast Policy Director, Enterprise Community Partners Last month, President Biden introduced the American Jobs Plan, calling for an investment of more than $2 trillion for the nation’s infrastructure. Notably, this proposal earmarks $213 billion for housing, which would make it the largest federal housing investment in over 30 years. It’s not […]

By Atticus LeBlanc, PadSplit Founder and Chair of ULI Atlanta’s UrbanPlan Committee  If there’s one thing that I’ve learned in my 16 years as an entrepreneur or 19 in land-use, it’s that a clear vision is absolutely required to build a successful company, or development project.  Anyone who has ever renovated a home or built […]

The COVID-19 crisis disrupted lives and livelihoods in ways not seen in nearly a century. Middle- and upper-income families can often sustain themselves during temporary disruptions, but the pandemic has meant disaster on several levels for low-income families.  Many lost jobs or had their work schedule significantly reduced, and childcare programs were put on hold, […]

Christina Szczepanski, Managing Director, Southeast, Reinvestment Fund Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to join an interactive simulation called the Digital Community Food Experience, created by the Atlanta Community Food Bank (ACFB) in collaboration with Georgia Tech design students. The aim of the activity was to help participants gain a deeper understanding of the […]

By Krisztian Varsa Sowing the Seeds of Local Farms Agriculture remains a major part of Georgia’s economy, and we have a large and growing number of diverse, entrepreneurial next-generation farmers committed to innovative and sustainable farming to support our local food system. However, many of these farmers lack one key ingredient—ownership of the land they […]

By Meaghan Shannon-Vlkovic, VP & Market Leader, Enterprise Community Partners The average life expectancy for a person in the Margaret Mitchell area of Buckhead is 25 years longer than that of someone in Bankhead on Atlanta’s west side, less than 10 miles away. Many factors contribute to that statistic, but chief among them is the […]