Three of the five top contenders for Atlanta mayor declared during a candidate forum Wednesday that they’d commit to expanding the city’s budget by tens of millions of dollars to further affordable housing initiatives. Former Mayor Kasim Reed and Atlanta City Council President Felicia Moore made no such promise.
“The city can’t afford to expand the budget by tens of millions of dollars,” Reed told Atlanta Civic Circle in an interview after the forum. “You already have the land to facilitate the private sector,” he added, referring to the hundreds of acres of municipal property the city’s planning department recently identified as ripe for affordable housing development.
