ATLANTA — Atlanta City Councilmember Michael Julian Bond introduced a new resolution to create a feasibility study to examine the creation of transitional housing for the city’s homeless population.
The legislation from Bond would also study the option and feasibility of creating a development authority and special levy tax district to address Atlanta’s homeless and housing needs, including a review of all available financing options and tools, according to documents from the city.
Bond said on Monday, following two council votes to pause sweeping an clearing the city’s homeless encampments and to create a homelessness task force, that he would be introducing additional ordinances to work on the related issues.
Both votes passed in the council on Monday in response to the tragic death of Cornelius Taylor, a 49-year-old man who was killed when an Atlanta Department of Public Works vehicle cleared a homeless encampment near Ebenezer Baptist Church and crushed him after city workers did not check tents first.
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The Atlanta City Council voted to approve the two measures introduced while Taylor’s family held a funeral for him at Ebenezer Baptist Church, then walked alongside a horse-drawn carriage that contained his casket all the way to the steps of Atlanta City Hall.
Bond told Channel 2′s Michael Doudna that he would be putting forth more legislation, and shared the first piece of it Monday night.
That legislation included the feasibility study, which will focus on funding options to support housing initiatives, changes to the property tax rate in Atlanta and other options for ensuring issues of being unhoused or without shelter in Atlanta can be resolved.
Should the item pass through votes by the city council, it would open up a comprehensive study of how Atlanta can move forward to address housing issues in the city, including affordability and the transitional housing for those in need mentioned in Bond’s legislation.
The proposed development authority was described in the legislation as a joint cooperation between Fulton County and the City of Atlanta.
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