The Atlanta Regional Commission has released the second step of its first-ever Regional Housing Strategy: A list of 10 “housing actions” to create more affordable homes in the region by 2035.
At the Oct. 14 ARC board meeting, commission leaders presented progress on “Housing Forward 2035,” months after the plan was publicly unveiled in August.
The plan aims to address a stark statistic: If Metro Atlanta’s population keeps growing at the same rate, 75% of people making less than $55,000 a year won’t have a “housing solution”by 2035.
It spurred the ARC into action in September 2025. For 14 months, the housing team worked on analysis and engagement. They came away with three goals – build strategically for intentional growth, close the affordability gap and activate vacant and underutilized properties.
The commission also came away with some data-oriented targets, like 367,000 new homes by 2035, an affordability gap cut in half for households earning less than $55,000 a year, and new houses on 10% of the region’s vacant and underutilized parcels.
Now, the ARC has a list of “housing actions” to help make those goals a reality.
“It’s one thing to have a conversation about policy or do the supportive things, but I think where rubber is going to meet the road if we are going to move this plan forward is actually meeting the housing goals and the targets we set together as a region,” ARC Executive Director and CEO Anna Roach said.
The actions are listed below.
- Link ARC transportation and land use programs to local housing actions
- Create regional Housing Ready Community Certification and toolkit
- Launch regional housing dashboard to track progress
- Activate underutilized sites and advance transit-oriented development
- Build on momentum to further expand funding for production and preservation
- Engage employers and workers on housing
- Build a regional approach to homelessness prevention and response
- Develop a regional housing communication strategy
- Identify, convene and education on high-impact state policy changes
- Evaluate ways to increase preservation and stabilization efforts
Most of the actions won’t be done directly by ARC. The commission will “convene and support partners who lead” to accomplish goals.
It will take charge in three areas, though. The ARC will link transportation and land use through special studies to prioritize housing projects that support transportation, and launch an online regional housing dashboard to track progress.
The ARC will also work to develop a regional housing communication strategy.
“Many of us, as we’ve heard from you, struggle to implement housing because communications can be fragmented,” Regional Housing Plan Coordinator Kristen Allen said. “We have different people at the community level, and we have employers taht need housing, but that communication might not be out there.”
According to Allen, the communication strategy is a question of bringing different stakeholder groups into the conversation. It’s a similar process with other action items – partnering with funders, working with the Metro Atlanta Chamber and working with local governments to “activate” underutilized pieces of land.
The ARC will split the goals into short and “medium-term” timelines across the next two years. In November, the board will release its county and city traits. In January, the plan will go before the full ARC board for official adoption.
Anna Roach said she suspects the November presentation will “generate a lot of conversation.”
“Once we have those targets, ARC will work with our local governments to try to outline what their sort of 10-point action plan will be towards the goal of accomplishing each of the housing targets set for jurisdictions within the region,” Roach said.
The post ARC unveils part two of first-ever regional housing plan appeared first on SaportaReport.
