Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens has announced plans for a $50 million bond to address homelessness. Legislation that would add in $10 million from the city’s Affordable Housing Trust has also been introduced, bring the total to $60 million. Combined with other public and private investments, the total adds up to more than $120 million. With the most recent “Point in Time” count – an official count of the homeless – at just under 3,000, that $120 million works out to somewhere around $40,000 per homeless individual.
“This is not just about offering someone a roof over their heads for a night or two. It is about creating a pathway and building a foundation for a better life,” said Dickens. “Thank you to City Council in advance for their collaboration on the legislation, to The Community Foundation for the first major commitment to this cause and everyone else who is pitching in on the group project—because they realize we are not just building housing; we are building hope.”
That 3,000 number includes those in transitional housing and emergency shelters, the completely unsheltered number sits at just over 1,000. This funding will help to build 500 new units of affordable housing by the end of 2025, with an additional 200 found through newly built or renovated apartment buildings in the city’s “permanent supportive housing” (PSH) pipeline.
“Housing is a cornerstone of neighborhood infrastructure – just like our streets, sidewalks, transit, and parks,” said District 1 Councilmember Jason Winston. “Investing in safe, stable, affordable housing for our unhoused residents, like the 40 units of supportive housing just down the street at The Melody, is an investment in a vibrant future for Downtown Atlanta. We’re committed to making many more investments like this across all of the dimensions that make a livable, world-class downtown.”
The homeless population in Atlanta is down 30 percent from 2016 but increased 63 percent since the pandemic – from 640 in 2022 to 1,040 in 2024. Mayor Dickens has taken a number of steps to find housing and support services for the homeless, as well as ensure the number doesn’t grow higher in a city with ever-increasing rents and addiction continuing as a major issue for those already on the street. Dickens has helped to launch programs to prevent displacement of low-income renters, coordinate street outreach to rehouse residents living in encampments, and ensure access to emergency shelters. With pandemic relief funding slowing down, the city is back closer to the norm of making hard decisions on spending and this bond will mark the first one in the last seven years. That bond ended up with a total of $50 million in funding at a time of relatively high homeless population.
Check back in on this $120 million in the next seven years…
