Atlanta Mayor Launches Affordable Housing Plan

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The city will create a Housing Innovation Lab as part of the plan.

Atlanta is launching a new comprehensive plan to address affordable housing in the city, but one expert thinks it doesn't go far enough.

GPB's Sophia Saliby reports on the Atlanta's new Housing Affordability Action Plan.

Since 2000, Atlantans' median rent has increased by over 70%, but their incomes have failed to catch up, increasing by only 48%.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms hopes to address that and other issues with the city's Housing Affordability Action Plan announced Monday.

During her May radio interview with GPB’s Rickey Bevington, Bottoms said no city has gotten affordable housing right, but she wants to be the first.

"This is the difference with Atlanta and places like San Francisco, we acually have land inside our city limits that we can redevelop for housing," she said.

The plan lays out goals she's announced before, like investing $1 billion of public and private money and building or preserving 20 thousand homes by 2026.

But Professor of Urban Studies at Georgia State Univeristy Dan Immergluck believes how the city will pay for the plan is too vague.

He'd like to see more details.

"It has some concrete suggestions, but it never puts dollar figures on them," he said.

The plan is part of a campaign promise from Bottoms.