City Council approves oversight for Housing Trust Fund
The Atlanta City Council on Monday unanimously approved legislation to shine a spotlight on how the city spends its Affordable Housing Trust Fund, created to produce and preserve housing for lower income Atlantans. The fund receives 2% of Atlanta’s general fund each year, which will be about $20 million for FY 2027.
The resolution, if signed by Mayor Andre Dickens, would prompt an annual report from the mayor’s office, starting July 1, that accounts for trust fund dollars spent on affordable housing, compared with auxiliary housing programs, housing-bond debt service and employee salaries.
Transparency around how the city spends the trust is critical, said Councilmember Matt Westmoreland, who authored the legislation. “There’s a universal desire to have a better and more publicly digestible explanation for how these dollars are getting used every year,” he told Atlanta Civic Circle…