DeKalb County commissioners and housing officials met in a special called PECS work group to take an extended look at housing affordability, preservation programs and several pending resolutions on creating trust funds and changing zoning rules.

The session, organized by PECS Chair Commissioner Nicole Messiah (District 3), brought county staff, the newly hired chief housing officer and community partners to the table to review how county, state and federal tools are being used to add and preserve housing and what additional steps might be needed. "The issue of housing in general, but especially as it relates to housing affordability, is a big elephant. And where you eat an elephant is 1 bite at a time," Messiah said at the start of the meeting.

Why it matters: County staff and nonprofit and private-sector partners detailed a broad set of ongoing programs—low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC), HOME and HOME-ARP funds, the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP), emergency rental assistance work and several preservation programs—that county leaders say are already producing units or preventing displacement. Commissioners and the new chief housing officer discussed whether new structural tools—a county affordable housing trust fund and a community land trust—should be created and how hotel-motel tax revenue, land-banking and regulatory changes might support them.

Key program updates and figures
- Low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC): Alan Mitchell, director of community development, reminded the group that LIHTC allocations are awarded through a state Qualified Allocation Plan and that local contributions (for example HOME funds or local financing) increase an application’s competitiveness.
- HOME funds: Mitchell said the county has “probably in excess over $10,000,000 that’s available” for HOME-eligible projects and that county HOME dollars commonly fill part of a project capital stack.
- NSP (Neighborhood Stabilization Program): Mitchell said the county has spent more than $33,000,000 since 2008 on acquiring, rehabbing and reselling or placing single-family homes; he said roughly 180 homes have been sold and another 168 rental units created under that program.
- ERA/ICCI and HOME‑ARP: Mitchell said the county spent $13,000,000 of ERA funds on nearly 3,000 households, with about $9.5 million used to cover delinquent rent and much of the balance used for hotel/motel placements and stabilizing households; for ERA assistance the typical arrears paid were about three to four months on average.
- Preservation programs: Mitchell described a special purpose housing repair program (maximum $16,000 per household for critical repairs), a senior tree removal program with more than 1,400 applicants, a mortgage-assistance program capped at $10,000 per household and CAPCARE plumbing/sewer-lateral repair funded from ARP dollars (Mitchell said the county has allocated $5,000,000 for those repairs).

Officials and partners noted operational bottlenecks. Mitchell and others described large call volumes at the county housing intake hotline (404-687-3500), long agency backlogs for referrals and the challenge of tracking individual cases in a way residents can readily check status. "We have thousands of calls," Mitchell said. "We have capacity when answering phones. That's not the problem. The problem is being able to make the referrals and get people help."

Policy tools under consideration
- Affordable housing trust fund: Commissioners discussed a draft resolution that would dedicate a portion of hotel-motel tax revenue to a county trust fund to support affordable housing. Commissioner Terry’s resolution proposed designating one-eighth (12.5%) of the 8% hotel-motel tax for the fund; administration recommended clarifying the language, running a feasibility analysis and designing the fund so it can leverage other public, private and philanthropic capital.
- Community land trust: Commissioners and staff discussed creating a stand‑alone community land trust or an entity housed under an existing department. Chief Housing Officer Alan Ferguson stressed that a land trust can preserve long‑term affordability but requires clear governance, startup funding and a plan for ongoing capitalization.
- Zoning minimum-unit-size amendment (R‑75/R‑85): Commissioners heard testimony from developers and renovation contractors arguing that reducing minimum square footage requirements would increase supply of smaller, lower-cost homes. Ferguson said he supports housing variety but urged that any reduction include affordability conditions so smaller homes do not simply become smaller, higher-priced units.

Public comment and stakeholder input
Public commenters included developers, housing advocates and service providers. House ATL, the DeKalb Housing Roundtable and several developers urged adoption of a trust fund, a community land trust and changes to minimum-size requirements to expand affordable options. Frontline service providers emphasized that many unhoused people need intensive wraparound services before placement. DeKalb Regional partners such as Decide DeKalb and the DeKalb Housing Authority spoke in favor of coordinated, cross-agency approaches.

Votes at a glance
- 2024‑1564 — Resolution to allocate county funding for a community land trust feasibility study: Committee approved a substitute and a friendly amendment to fund the study; the substitute sets the study allocation at $122,000. (Voice vote taken; counts not specified in the transcript.)
- 2025‑0431 — Declaration of certain county properties as surplus and transfer to the DeKalb Regional Land Bank Authority: Committee approved a substitute that changes the conveyed parcel list from 25 to 26 parcels. (Voice vote taken; counts not specified in the transcript.)
- 2024‑0935, 2024‑1548, 2025‑01064 (hotel‑motel allocation and related items): Committee voted to defer these items for two weeks to the October 14 meeting to allow administration review and to refine language. (Voice vote taken; counts not specified in the transcript.)

What the committee asked staff to do
Committee members asked administration to: review and tighten legislative language for the proposed trust fund; run a feasibility study and scope for a community land trust (the approved study allocation is $122,000); provide district-level breakdowns of land‑bank candidate parcels; and consult finance and procurement on study procurement and on options to leverage hotel‑motel, bond or other revenue. Chief Housing Officer Ferguson and Director Mitchell agreed to review draft resolutions and assist commissioners on technical details.

Next steps
Most pending resolutions were deferred to the board’s October 14 calendar for final action; the committee approved funding to study a community land trust and approved transferring an expanded list of county parcels to the regional land bank authority to enable future disposition and redevelopment. Administration and the chief housing officer will return with refined language, feasibility scope and procurement steps.

A note on attributions
Quotes and program numbers in this story come from the PECS work group presentations and public comments. For example, Alan Mitchell, director of community development, said "we've got probably in excess over $10,000,000 that's available" for HOME-eligible projects, and Chief Housing Officer Alan Ferguson described the problem as a "housing crisis," not just an affordability problem. All direct quotations in this article are drawn from the meeting transcript.

Ending
The work group left several items for further drafting and legal review and advanced study dollars for a land‑trust feasibility analysis and additional land‑bank transfers. Commissioners and staff said they will continue monthly coordination to move both production and preservation tools toward implementation.