ATLANTA – The Atlanta Beltline Initiative says it’s way ahead of its goal to build or preserve more than 5,000 affordable housing units by the year 2030. 

The extreme need for affordable housing in the Atlanta metro area means much more needs to be done. 

“This is Madison Reynoldstown. This particular development has just opened its doors. We expect to move in 30 residents before Thanksgiving. We’re very excited about this development,” said Dennis Richards, vice president of housing and development for Atlanta Beltline. 

He showed FOX 5 one of their newest affordable housing developments, built right next to the Beltline trail in East Atlanta off of Memorial Drive. 

“Back in 2008, during the recession, this was a failed condo project. So, Atlanta Beltline was able to purchase this property. We were able to renovate these units and sell them with first time homebuyer incentives,” Richards said. 

The Beltline has a mandate to create or preserve 5,600 affordable housing units along its trail by the year 2030. 

Richards says they will be at 70% of that goal by the end of this year. 

“This year we had a goal of about 300 units. It’s looking like by the end of this year, we’ll be at about 550 units…and next year, we’ve got another strong pipeline of about 500 units,” Richards said. 

If they keep going at this rate, Richards says they’re predicting they’ll blow that original goal out of the water. 

“I would venture to say north of 7,000, close to 7,500 units, perhaps more,” Richards said. 

However, the city needs every unit it can get. 

According to the Atlanta Beltline, in 2022, Atlanta had a 22,000-unit deficit in its affordable housing supply.

Between 2017 and 2022, the city of Atlanta saw a decrease of 7,000 units of affordable rentals. 

Add to that the fact that the city is expected to continue to grow by leaps and bounds in the coming years. 

“The Atlanta Regional Commission projects two million people will come into the Atlanta metro by 2050. So that is about the equivalent of adding the city of Denver to the Atlanta metro,” Richards said. 

James Marlow, president of the non-profit Southface Institute, says the metro desperately needs more variety in housing as well. 

“Nobody builds starter houses anymore…but we need multifamily, we need more townhouses, we need additional dwelling units, we need duplexes…we need every type of housing innovation,” Marlow said. 

On Friday morning, Marlow held an affordable housing roundtable. 

And with that stark reality in mind, Richards says the Beltline isn’t going to stop and rest on its laurels and will continue with the strategies that have gotten them to this good position. 

“One being our strategic land acquisition strategy, where we’ve acquired around 90 acres of property, where we think we can develop at least 3,000 units across that portfolio,” Richards said. “We also have capital available to developers so that we can put money in those deals to ensure that we get some set aside for affordable housing units.”