Articles

Affordable Workforce Housing Opportunity Fund to provide living options for Atlanta workers

Atlanta City Newsbytes
March 6, 2007

Yesterday, the Atlanta City Council approved an inter-governmental agreement between the City of Atlanta, the Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) and the Atlanta Development Authority (ADA) to establish an Affordable Workforce Housing Opportunity Fund totaling $75 million.

Creation of the Fund will support Mayor Shirley Franklin's New Century Economic Development Plan goal to create 10,000 new affordable workforce housing units by 2009. The Fund will incentivize the creation of new affordable workforce housing units and preserve existing housing units through mortgage down-payment assistance, land acquisition, multi-family loans, home builder incentives and loans for community housing development organizations.

In March, the Atlanta Housing Opportunity, Inc (AHO), a new AHA non-profit organization, will approve an agreement for the City of Atlanta to designate how the funds will be spent and the policies for expenditure. AHO will also approve an agreement for the Urban Residential Finance Authority (URFA), an ADA subsidiary, to issue the first bond series. These are expected in April for approximately $35 million, and will provide affordable housing options for 3,000 Atlanta workers.

"This is a giant step forward in offering working men and women and their families the chance to live in the city where they work. This improves the quality of life for all of us and makes our city more vibrant and exciting," said Mayor Shirley Franklin.

For more information about the Affordable Housing Opportunity Fund, visit http://atlantada.com/media/
AffordableWorkforceHousingPlan.pdf.

For more information on Atlanta City Government, visit http://www.atlantaga.gov.

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