Affordable Housing Fund Boosts MARTA TOD Program

Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
The aim of the Greater Atlanta Transit-Oriented Affordable Housing Preservation Fund is to incentivize and provide gap funding for owners and landlords of affordable units near MARTA rail stations.

The aim of the Greater Atlanta Transit-Oriented Affordable Housing Preservation Fund is to incentivize and provide gap funding for owners and landlords of affordable units near MARTA rail stations.

Morgan Stanley and National Equity Fund (NEF) are establishing a $100 million fund to support the long-term preservation of affordable housing within a one-mile radius of Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) rail stations, MARTA reported. It will help boost the agency’s transit-oriented development (TOD) program.

The aim of the Greater Atlanta Transit-Oriented Affordable Housing Preservation Fund is to incentivize and provide gap funding for owners and landlords of affordable units. It can be used to acquire real estate, to pay off an existing first mortgage, restructure existing gap financing or invest in minor capital improvements, or for general partner acquisition of limited partner interests. NEF is the fund manager; Morgan Stanley is the sole investor.

MARTA General Manager and CEO Jeffrey Parker

“While MARTA is aggressively supporting the development of affordable housing units on our properties, new development takes time,” MARTA General Manager and CEO Jeffrey Parker said. “In a region that consistently ranks among the worst for economic mobility, the quickest and easiest way to have an impact is to preserve existing affordable housing near transit.”

The MARTA Board in 2010 adopted an affordable housing policy that requires 20% of residential rental units in MARTA TOD areas to be affordable to those earning 60%-80% of the Metro Atlanta Area Media Income (AMI) and for-sale units to be affordable to those earning 80%-100% of AMI.

In November 2019, the Board approved the release of mixed-income housing TOD Request for Proposals (RFPs) for stations it owns in Federal Opportunity Zones at Bankhead, Five Points, Vine City, Ashby, H.E. Holmes, West End and Lakewood/Fort McPherson.

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