I’ve been doing a lot of good news-bad news in these lately, but I’m happy to report it’s all good news this time around.
First, an update on our efforts to end homelessness: With an unprecedented $220,000 in funding from this year’s budget, the Athens Area Homeless Shelter has been able to shelter and/or house 106 families including 232 children since the fall of last year. Additionally, they have been able to convert space in their housing village off of North Avenue to provide emergency shelter to families of five or more and have provided 619 diversion referrals since August. Kudos to Shea Post and her team for their incredible work keeping our neighbors housed and safe!
This Tuesday is our April voting meeting, and we’ll be tasked with signing off on an agreement between UGA and the Unified Government regarding fare-free bus service; greenlighting an ACCPD grant application to improve our 911 system; designating a design and construction of the new Eastside library (due to break ground in January 2025 and be completed in 2026); and approving our new inclusionary zoning ordinance, developed in partnership with local housing agencies, planning commissioners, Commissioner Tim Denson, and myself.
What’s inclusionary zoning, you might ask? In essence, apartment developers will be able to get what’s called a “density bonus” & build up to 50% more units than allowed under the existing zoning if 10-15% of those units are affordable to someone making less than 36k/year. Additionally, it incentivizes developers building in the downtown zone to contribute to our affordable housing fund, to the tune of approximately $165k per affordable unit they could have built under the IZ ordinance.
The Planning Department estimates that 10,000 new apartments will be built in the next several years. If this is true, the IZ ordinance has the potential to create 1500 new affordable units and generate a few million dollars to be invested in blight clearance, land acquisition, and homeownership— hopefully ending the cycle of housing insecurity so many of our neighbors face.
As always, you can view Tuesday’s meeting live or rewatch on YouTube, direct from the ACC Gov website, on Facebook or ACTV Cable Channel 180.
And finally, I thank you for your support for the East Athens East Egg Hunt at Heard Park on April 9th. We were able to raise over $400 to support the event and hope to see you there!
Have a hoppy monday.