Gov. Brian Kemp announced Wednesday the award of $30 million in COVID relief funds to organizations working to address housing insecurity in Georgia.
The funds will be distributed among eight organizations.
Atlanta’s BeltLine Partnership and Westside Future Fund will receive $3 million and $2 million, respectively.
Westside Future Fund plans to use the funding to build two three-story walk-up apartment buildings in Atlanta’s English Avenue neighborhood. Of the 26 units planned, half will be reserved for people earning below 60% of the area median income.
Quest Community Development Organization also works on Atlanta’s West Side and will receive close to $5 million to create a 40-unit community for people 55 and older who are homeless or at risk of losing their housing. Eight of the units will be reserved for veterans.
The Housing Resource Group, headquartered in Atlanta, will receive $5 million to build a 60-unit affordable rental community. Almost all of the units are reserved for those with low incomes and at risk of homelessness.
And DreamKey Partners plans to finance 70 affordable housing units for elderly people living in Riverdale, south of Atlanta.
DASH for LaGrange, a group that builds affordable housing, will receive $4 million in funding to develop and lease 16 affordable rental units.
In Macon, River Edge Foundation will use the funds to develop 26 affordable, one-bedroom apartments for low-income elderly people with disabilities. The group also plans to provide additional supportive services to residents, according to information provided by the governor’s office.
Wealth Watchers will build a 20-unit affordable housing development for farm laborers in partnership with the United States Department of Agriculture.
“When I first took office, I promised to make Georgia a state where all people can succeed, no matter their background,” Kemp said. “The funds we’re awarding today will further help those still struggling in the aftermath of COVID-19 regain stability and housing security.”
Last month, Kemp announced a first round of awards to address housing insecurity totaling $62 million to 20 organizations.
The grants come from federal COVID-19 relief funds allocated to Georgia under the American Rescue Plan Act Congress passed last year.
A spokesperson for Democrat Stacey Abrams – who is challenging Kemp for the governorship in November – criticized the awards, calling them an “election-year gimmick.”
“Georgia is facing a housing affordability crisis under Brian Kemp — but all the governor can do is try to desperately take credit for spending federal funds he opposed in the first place,” said Alex Floyd, a spokesperson for the campaign. “Georgians deserve real solutions that will bring down the cost of housing.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
