Building a foundation for affordable housing

A safe and affordable house is more than a place to call home. Often, it’s the foundation for all other outcomes in life: employment stability, education, health. Each hinges on attaining and maintaining safe, quality, affordable housing.

Yet for far too many of our neighbors, that is increasingly out of reach, creating a ripple effect of instability and inequity throughout our entire community. It’s estimated that Atlanta loses more than 1,500 affordable homes each year which often means families are displaced and always means greater financial burden to simply make ends meet. Meanwhile, with metro Atlanta projected to add another 2.9 million people by 2050, nearly 100,000 households might not be able to afford market prices.

As a funder and connector, the Foundation played a central role in what was a historic year in Atlanta: a $300M commitment to create affordable housing. Using our philanthropic and investment dollars, partnering with other foundations and investors such as the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation ($75M) and the Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation ($25M), as well as financial institutions and individual investors, we are able to bridge gaps, break down existing barriers for residents and developers, and invest in the whole person, their families and their future.

We have raised $150M on our path to $200M to support housing affordability across ATL within the next five years. We made our first impact loans and grants in late 2023 to preserve existing affordable housing that was at threat of being lost, facilitate new housing for those experiencing homelessness and support construction in mixed-income communities.

“Affordable housing is a key catalyst for better opportunity and prosperity,” said Foundation president and CEO Frank Fernandez. “Assuring that all residents have a safe and stable place to call home not only benefits those directly affected but also can enhance overall quality of life for our entire community.”

We saw the transformative power of this commitment in action in Historic Thomasville, where residents of Forest Cove apartments were living in deplorable and unsafe conditions brought about over decades of neglect.

Partnering with the City and other organizations, the Foundation was able to relocate 205 families (over 800 individuals) to stable housing while helping them acclimate to their new homes and neighborhoods. Throughout 2023 we continued to support their relocation via subsidies, legal counsel, school registration and more in coordination with our partners.

Atlanta-based affordable housing expert Marjy Stagmeier, president of TI Asset Management, provided needed resources and services. Stagmeier notes that despite the poor living conditions at Forest Cove, neighbors had forged strong bonds that she and others are helping to foster moving forward.

“I think the effort to relocate these tenants has been heroic,” Stagmeier said. “The Foundation was the catalyst from a funding, logistics and communications perspective to make sure that those who were moved were taken care of properly.”

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This story was originally shared in our 2023 Annual Report. To read the full report, click here.