Atlanta Councilmember Bond proposes new affordable housing website locator

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) -Last year alone Mayor Andre Dickens’ administration delivered more than 1,700 affordable units to the community.

More than 3,900 are in the works but there’s still a long way to go to reach his goal of 20,000 units in the next seven years.

Now one Atlanta City Council member says a new website will make it easier to find an affordable place to live in the city.

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Atlanta News First spoke to citywide Atlanta City Councilmember Julian Michael Bond about his push to create a new affordable housing website.

“Atlanta’s in a housing crisis,” said Atlanta Citywide Councilmember Julian Bond.

Bond is not the only city leader who believes Atlanta has an affordable housing issue.

“These legacy residents are the soul of our community,” Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said last year when he started working towards creating 20,000 affordable housing units in Atlanta by 2030.

“The prices have gone up,” Bond said right now affordable housing is also too difficult to find for people of all different economic statuses.

Bond said too many times people are getting turned away at new high rises in Atlanta.

“We want to make a one stop shop where people can find affordable housing,” Bond said.

Now he’s asking Atlanta City Council leaders to vote yes on a new resolution to create a city website, managed and created by a third-party company out of Boston, using tax payer dollars.

“Well it would cost how much it is to develop a website,” Bond said.

The other option is to expand the current city website under the Atlanta Development Authority. Bond said the current website only includes affordable housing listings that the city has had a hand in developing and leaves out privately owned and developed affordable locations.

He said the new website that he is proposing will provide weekly up-to-date information on affordable, accessible, senior, veteran, and section eight housing opportunities in Atlanta.

“So when people go to the search they have the latest and most accurate information available.”

Bond’s resolution is headed to committee next Tuesday where city council is expected to vote on whether to pay for this new website or expand the current city website to include private affordable housing listings too.

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