As in many big cities around the country, affordable housing is desperately needed in Atlanta. A new report by an Urban Land Institute's Advisory Services panel that was commissioned by the city's housing authority, Atlanta Housing (AH), analyzed opportunities for the city to collaborate more effectively with developers and partners to meet that need, noting the many land and financial resources already available to developers if properly deployed.

The agency commissioned the report to achieve expert feedback and recommendations to help it achieve its aggressive goals, which include creating or preserving 10,000 affordable housing units within five years. The agency has the full backing of Mayor Andre Dickens, who set a goal of building 20,000 affordable units within eight years when he took office in 2022.

The panel was made up of national experts in real estate, finance and land use. Its report noted that AH has some unique resources, including more than 350 acres of vacant and underutilized land across the city. The total cost of its development pipeline was estimated to be over $2.1 billion, not including infrastructure. It also has a housing voucher program. These assets, the report said, "offer excellent opportunities for leverage—the greater the leverage, the more affordability and the greater the likelihood that AH will achieve its goals."