This month’s Transform Westside Summit was a comprehensive look back at the past year of affordable housing development by the Westside Future Fund (WFF).
WFF President and CEO John Ahmann reiterated the organization’s commitment to community retention, prioritizing those who live, work and learn on the Westside.
At the summit on Feb. 20, Ahmann moderated a conversation with panelists Tameka Askew, the director of WFF’s Home on the Westside program; Rachel Carey, WFF’s chief real estate officer; and Jon Ingram, WFF’s chief development officer.
Askew and Carey explained the rent structuring for Home on the Westside’s new apartment communities at 839 Boone Boulevard and 646 Echo Street, which opened in January. Rent levels of all 57 units are set at 30 percent to 80 percent of the area median income.
In the past year, Home on the Westside provided an average of $47,000 of downpayment assistance for families purchasing homes in the Westside.
In 2025, 116 residents participated in Home on the Westside’s Anti-Displacement Tax Fund (ADTF) for legacy homeowners. Five of those participants were newly qualified in 2025. Once qualified, participants’ property taxes will be paid by the ADTF and will not increase for 20 years.
Carey announced that construction of 26 multifamily units is underway at 390 Sunset Avenue. The $9.9 million budget is a result of funding from a Georgia housing grant, the Westside TAD and donations from The Cox Foundation, The Tull Foundation, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation and The Home Depot.
The Yellow Store is also under construction. The historic building in English Avenue will soon have four affordable apartments on the second floor and 3,500 square feet of retail space on the ground floor to provide residents with access to “fresh, healthy food,” according to the Westside Future Fund.
Construction on another housing development at 280 James P. Brawley Drive is slated to begin this spring, bringing 18 multi-family units between 30 percent and 80 percent area median income to the neighborhood across from Kennedy Park and Hollis Innovation Academy.
In 2022, WFF acquired the property that housed the Oliver Street Apartments, which had fallen into extreme disrepair, and relocated the remaining tenants. WFF received a demolition grant from the city and completed demolition and soil remediation of the property by late 2025. A plan for 120 units of affordable housing is currently in permitting stages.
WFF is also currently in permitting for Proctor Village, a development of formerly blighted and vacant lots that will create 54 multi-family units and six single-family homes across from Kathryn Johnston Memorial Park.
The next Transform Westside Summit will be held on March 20 and is open to the public.
