The City of Atlanta’s own Department of City Planning has established that we need more homes to welcome growing families and newcomers in the coming years. In order to accommodate growth and encourage more walkable and less car-centric neighborhoods, we support the City Council’s efforts to encourage the development of more homes, especially near public transportation hubs.

Atlanta’s residential population is at an all-time high and surpassed 500,000 residents for the first time in 2019. In the next few decades, Atlanta’s population is projected to more than double. We must ensure that Atlanta becomes the equitable, inclusive, and accessible city that we know it can and should be, and we can only achieve that goal by accommodating new growth and preventing displacement. Our city needs a sustained, incremental program of comprehensive reform to our land use, zoning, and transportation systems.

Councilmember Amir Farokhi has proposed three ordinances which will:

1. Allow for more homes near transit;

2. Allow for attached accessory dwelling units (aka “Basement ADU’s) in most residential neighborhoods; and

3. Remove burdensome mandatory residential parking requirements.

Councilmember Farokhi’s three proposed ordinances constitute the first step towards comprehensive reform.

We, the undersigned, ask the Atlanta City Council to vote in favor of these proposed ordinances. We know that this proposal is just the first step in addressing our housing crisis, so we ask current and future Councilmembers to propose additional housing legislation to update Atlanta’s complex, convoluted, and inequitable systems for land use, zoning, and transportation. This first step is critical, but progress is more than just one step… it is a march.

You can read the proposed ordinances here:

Ordinance 21-O-0454: MR-MU Rezoning of Parcels within 1/2 mile of MARTA Stations

Ordinance 21-O-0455: Amend the 2016 Comprehensive Development Plan

Ordinance 21-O-0456: Remove Residential Parking Requirements and Allow Attached Accessory Dwelling Units