According to one argument, the importance of developing affordable housing is a higher priority for the Atlanta BeltLine than a streetcar. It's a question of scarce funding, and how to spend it to the greatest public benefit.
Mike Dobbins, a professor of planning at Georgia Tech’s College of Design, pens an opinion piece for SaportaReport with a potentially controversial proposal for planning around the BeltLine.
Dobbins is advocating for affordable housing, especially for the Atlanta BeltLine to achieve its mandate to produce 5,600 affordable units along the BeltLine by 2030. "The BeltLine’s prospects for being able to step up face two major hurdles: Land cost and money."
Dobbins has a few recommendations for overcoming those hurdles, like considering "the negative impact on housing affordability caused by the agency’s [Tax Allocation District] revenue stream…" Here Dobbins recommends a number of steps, like dialing down marketing and densities, while directing more funding toward property acquisition.
Then for the point that caused outcry on urbanist channels of social media already this week. Dobbins also suggests the BeltLine redirect funding intended for a streetcar toward affordable housing, which could "make a big dent in its obstacles to meeting its affordable housing mandate."
FULL STORY: Overcoming the affordable housing funding challenge
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UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research