Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ Legislative Priorities including Centennial Yards Redevelopment, a Low-Income Housing Water Assistance Program, and Equal and Small Businesses[...]

Mayor's Office of Communications
55 Trinity Avenue, Suite 2500 • Atlanta, Georgia 30303

Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms' Legislative Priorities, including Centennial Yards Redevelopment, a Low-Income Housing Water Assistance Program, and Equal and Small Businesses Opportunity Programs, Advance

ATLANTA- Important items on Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms' legislative agenda moved forward today in Atlanta City Council.

Centennial Yards Redevelopment: With a focus on historic community investment and equity, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms put forth legislation to invest $33.5 million of historic community benefits, including:

• Affordable housing funds which will support the development of public land, down payment assistance and an anti-displacement fund

• Economic development funds which will establish a small business hub, invest in a Local Hire Program, and launch the Mayor's Guaranteed Income Pilot Program and the Child Savings Account program

• Workforce development funds, which will fund the Center for Transportation and Logistics, housed at Atlanta Technical College

The 50-acre development will also offer world-class opportunities for retail, commercial office, residential, hotel and entertainment, in addition to new infrastructure and open space.

Low-Income Housing Water Assistance Program: Mayor Bottoms' also put forth legislation to enter an agreement with the Georgia Department of Human Services, Division of Family and Children (DHS) regarding the Low-Income Housing Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP).

LIHWAP is a federal program that helps low-income households pay for their home water bill, funded by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 and the American Rescue Plan. Under this program, each household in Georgia is eligible to apply and receive LIHWAP assistance once per program year. The amount of assistance is determined by household size, income and composition. DHS will make the funds available through a partnership with the Atlanta Fulton Community Action Authority, Inc. after receiving a request for assistance from the City's Department of Watershed Management customers. Once the request is approved, the benefits will be issued directly to the household's water supplier.

The program is scheduled to begin November 1, 2021.

2021 Disparity Study: With equity being a key component in Mayor Bottoms' One Atlanta vision, legislation for the 2021 Disparity Study and the Equal Business Opportunity Program (EBO)/Small Business Opportunity Program (SBO) Code of Ordinances was introduced.

The geographic focus for the study includes data collected from over 1,800 businesses located in the surrounding 20 counties in the Atlanta Region.

The results from the 2021 Disparity Report revealed that, under the EBO and SBO Programs, the City has reduced underutilization of minority-owned businesses in general, but that certain minority groups and women face continued underutilization in City-funded contracts and continued contracting disparities and barriers in the Atlanta region.

For these reasons, the Administration put forward legislation that the City continues the EBO and SBO Programs, with certain program modifications, for an additional five years.

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