Local governments across the country have recognized the need to use their own tools and powers to address the housing crisis in their communities. This is true in major coastal cities, small towns, rural communities, and even in cities that have, traditionally, been considered affordable. Convening local public agencies, quasi-public entities, and civic sector partners is a necessary step to delivering a comprehensive approach to the housing supply and affordability crisis.

Atlanta’s Housing Strike Force is the city’s housing crisis response team and provides a model for how localities can organize for success. Led by Mayor Andre Dickens, it includes the senior executives from every major public agency that touches housing or manages public land that could support development. Together, this group has reformed lethargic systems, deployed innovative housing solutions, and begun reshaping how affordable housing is delivered at the municipal level.

Governments at all levels have developed effective models for responding to crises, whether pandemics or natural disasters: establishing centralized command structures, setting clear mandates, and empowering interdisciplinary teams of officials. Atlanta’s innovation lies in applying this crisis response model to the housing sector at the local level.

The Challenge This Tool Solves

Cities, counties, and states are at the forefront of addressing the current housing crisis in innovative ways. Many of these innovations, however, fall outside the purview of the Mayor’s Office, often originating from public housing authorities, economic development agencies, and the civic and private sectors. Advancing these innovations requires the engagement and coordination of a wide range of public agencies, including transit authorities and local school districts. Bringing together public agencies in monthly meetings focused on housing goals provide a mechanism for overcoming siloed decision-making and fragmentation at the local level.

Types of Communities That Could Use This Tool

Atlanta’s Strike Force model can be adapted by dozens, if not hundreds, of localities in the U.S. and provide a new, common platform for addressing housing challenges. Given the regional nature of housing markets, Atlanta’s efforts could also inform the creation of multi-jurisdictional, county or regional strike forces that enable collaboration on this critical issue.

Expected Impacts of This Tool

By providing an organizing blueprint for localities across the country, the Strike Force model can accelerate the production and preservation of affordable housing. In Atlanta, it has already resulted in considerable progress towards the City’s goal of producing 20,000 affordable housing units.