Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens on city’s housing affordability plan
Mayor Andre Dickens in the WABE studio on Oct. 26, 2022. (Cassie Hazell/WABE)
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens joined “Closer Look” host Rose Scott for a conversation about the city’s plan to address the ongoing housing crisis. Video of the interview can be found below.
Interview highlights:
On developing and redeveloping government-owned land:
“Everybody in Atlanta walks around saying, ‘we full,’ but meanwhile we have close to 2,000 acres of government-owned land between the City of Atlanta, APS, HUD, Land Bank Authority, MARTA, BeltLine … once you combine them all, it’s thousands of pieces of property that we will navigate together.”
On plans for 2 Peachtree Street:
“Buying property is also a part of our strategy on key corridors where density can really be appreciated and utilized near MARTA stations … It’s going to have retail on the bottom, and then it will have some offices in the middle. And MARTA and I have been talking about MARTA coming there and having offices there since Five Points (Station) is right below it. And then a mixed-income mix on the above floors. So, we’re talking about some student housing, some low-income housing and some market-rate housing.”
On changes to single-family zoning:
“I don’t want anybody being told that their housing unit needs to change, that they’re no longer going to be able to have their house. I think a diversity of stock, as well, when we have this much housing stock that we have, then this is beneficial for us to be able to allow people to live how they want to live.”
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