Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens is scaling back a plan to funnel up to $10 billion to affordable housing and wrap around services through the Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative (NRI), a plan that’s been under scrutiny for a year.
NRI was created to revitalize underserved neighborhoods in Atlanta by freezing the property tax base in tax allocation districts (TAD) and feeding new revenue into affordable housing developments, healthcare, transit and early childhood education centers.
Months of collaboration with stakeholders, elected officials, and the NRI commission went into the “living document,” Dickens said.
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Now, Dickens wants to drop two of the original eight TADs when they expire: the Beltline TAD, the largest in Atlanta and set to expire in 2030, and Perry-Bolton TAD, which expires in 2041. The Beltline TAD brings in around $80 million in annual revenue.
Westside, Eastside, Campbellton Road, Hollowell–Martin Luther King Jr., Metropolitan Parkway and the Stadium Area TADs would be renewed under Dickens’ proposal.
At the May 18 Atlanta City Council meeting, Dickens said the plan represents one of the most comprehensive neighborhood investment strategies in the city’s history.
“This package includes the largest neighborhood stabilization investment proposal in Atlanta’s history … to help residents remain in their homes, preserve affordability, stabilize neighborhoods and create pathways to opportunities,” Dickens said.
Preliminary results from the TAD audit – out in June – identify “a need for stronger accountability structures, clearer measurable goals, more consistent reporting and greater transparency around how outcomes are tracked and communicated to the public,” Dickens said.
“Inequity in Atlanta did not happen overnight, and it will not be solved overnight. But this package represents one of the most comprehensive neighborhood investment strategies in our city’s history,” Dickens said.
