Purpose

The ARPA Affordable Housing Advisory Committee has been charged with creating an Affordable Housing Investment Strategy. Members of the existing Georgia Initiative for Community Housing (GICH) Committee were directed to serve in this role by Mayor and Commission as part of the Commission Defined Option designating the use of American Rescue Plan Funds, approved in March 2022.

The Housing Affordability Investment Strategy willl include, but is not limited to, transit-oriented development strategies for affordable housing, anti-displacement strategies for gentrifying areas, diversification of housing types, models for mixed-income housing, public-private strategies, and a study of acquisition and/or development opportunities. The Affordable Housing Investment Strategy is informed by existing studies to further identify current gaps (internally and externally), short and long term solutions, commjnity partners and their respective roles and responsibilities, methods to increase and preserve affordable housing stock, a prioritization of strategies with order-of-magnitude cost estimates, and a data presentation format that is easily digestible.

ACCGov has contracted with HR&A Advisors to develop the Affordable Housing Investment Strategy. As part of this process HR&A has scheduled a series of meetings with the advisory committee to understand the committee's goals, present housing and program data analysis, and present draft affordable housing strategies. The Affordable Housing Investment Strategy is anticipated to be released in draft form in June 2023, followed by a public comment period, followed by approval of the final plan in September 2023.