What’s Happening?
On June 10th, members of Atlanta City Council passed ordinance 25-O-1313 through the Community Development/Human Services committee. This ordinance would exempt student housing from affordability requirements that typically apply to new apartments receiving public funding or tax incentives. Under current standards, a new subsidized student apartment would be required to set aside 15% of units to households with income below 80% of the area median income (AMI), or 10% of units for households at 60% AMI. The proposed change entirely waives those requirements

Why is it bad?
Atlanta cannot afford to waste public tax dollars subsidizing luxury student housing without receiving the public benefits of affordable housing for low-income students or residents. This creates a loophole that allows student housing developers to abuse tax incentives granted by Fulton County and Invest Atlanta without providing public benefit.

But don’t we need more student housing?
Yes, Atlanta needs new market-rate development to accommodate our growing student population. However, housing for wealthy students does not require public dollars! Limited public funds should only be spent on actually providing affordable housing. If a student apartment complex receives a subsidy, it needs to include affordable options.

What can we do about it?
Tell Mayor Dickens and the Atlanta City Council to oppose this exemption. No subsidies without affordability!