How Atlanta plans to protect residents from rising housing costs

ATLANTA - Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens is focusing his second term on addressing neighborhood inequity through the Atlanta Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative to support communities on the south and west sides of the city.

What we know:

Atlanta is booming with new development, new businesses, and an increasing international presence, but some neighborhoods are still struggling to access basic resources and opportunity. 

Mayor Andre Dickens stated that the city is a tale of two cities, noting that certain communities do not see the prosperity happening elsewhere. To address this imbalance, the Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative is targeting communities on Atlanta's south and west sides that have faced years of underinvestment.

"Atlanta is growing. But we want to make sure we have balanced growth. And that growth needs to go to the south and to the west side of our communities," Dickens stated.

The initiative calls for affordable mixed-income housing, grocery stores, healthcare access, sidewalks, streetlights, and improved transit. 

Dickens explained that the city will use tax allocation districts as the mechanism to invest and reinvest into these communities to foster long-awaited development projects. 

As housing costs rise and development expands, city leaders are working to prevent longtime residents from being pushed out so they can remain in the communities they call home.

"We’ve seen over time, that Atlanta has grown so much that we don't want it to be a victim of our own success," Dickens said.

RELATED: Mayor Dickens issues orders to advance neighborhood reinvestment

What we don't know:

It is unclear the specific timeline for when individual construction projects for the grocery stores, healthcare centers, or transit improvements will begin. It is also unknown exactly how much total tax revenue has been collected or allocated for each specific district.