DeKalb County is going all in on housing, rolling out the largest investment in its history with a new Housing Investment Fund that starts with $12 million and a promise of steady, multi-million dollar backing in the years ahead. County leaders say the plan is designed to move past one-off fixes and instead build a lasting system that helps residents buy homes, repair the ones they have, keep rents affordable and expand services for people on the edge.
County budget documents show the Housing Office has been formally created and given $12 million to launch the fund, with ongoing annual funding of $15 million slated for future years. According to DeKalb County, that one-time seed money is expected to be stretched through housing investment bonds and partnerships so it reaches far beyond the opening allocation. Staff are expected to use the first phase to hammer out program rules, right-size grants and loans, and set up financing tools that can be used countywide.
County leaders frame it as long-term strategy
At a Thursday press conference, Chief Executive Officer Lorraine Cochran-Johnson pitched the move as a structural reset, not a quick patch. “This is about creating long-term solutions, not short-term fixes,” she told reporters. Chief Housing Officer Dr. Alan Ferguson said the fund is meant to open doors for first-time buyers, longtime homeowners, working families, seniors and residents experiencing homelessness, with tailored tools for each group. As reported by Atlanta Daily World, the county expects the fund to support the creation or preservation of roughly 15,000 housing units.
What the Housing Investment program will fund
The blueprint for the Housing Investment Fund lays out several distinct tracks. A DeKalb HomeStart down-payment assistance program is intended to help buyers clear the upfront cost hurdle. A BrighterHome owner-occupied rehabilitation program will focus on existing homeowners who need repairs to stay in place. On the multifamily side, a Multifamily Acquisition Fund and a Multifamily Gap Financing loan fund are designed to help affordable and workforce projects make their numbers work.
The authorizing resolution also creates a Revive DeKalb track to redevelop blighted properties, plus transitional-housing supports that will run through service partners. Program rules for underwriting, loan limits and long-term affordability commitments are spelled out in the Housing Authority and county authorizing resolution, according to DeKalb County, and will guide how money gets out the door.
Why county leaders say the move is urgent
Local officials are pointing to a regional squeeze that has been years in the making. Metro Atlanta lost more than 230,000 low- and moderate-priced homes between 2018 and 2023, according to Axios, a trend housing staff say the private market has not reversed on its own.
Closer to home, the county’s consolidated housing plan flags significant gaps in affordable, workforce and senior housing that DeKalb hopes to tackle through preservation, new construction and targeted subsidies, as detailed in DeKalb County. Taken together, those findings help explain why county leaders chose a financed, repeatable tool instead of a one-time cash splash.
How DeKalb plans to pay for it
To back up the big talk with actual dollars, commissioners authorized the Housing Authority of the County of DeKalb to issue taxable revenue bonds, up to $25 million in a Series 2026 issuance, to kick off a Housing Investment Bond Program that will fund the early rounds of projects. The authorizing language and the related intergovernmental agreement set out underwriting standards, maximum loan sizes and long-range affordability rules to safeguard public money and keep units within reach over time. County staff say using bonds will let public funds be recycled as loans are repaid and help draw in private and philanthropic capital. For the fine print, see DeKalb County.
What comes next
The Board signed off on the authorizing resolution on June 23, 2026, and county officials say program rules, application windows and partnership guidelines will roll out over the coming weeks. As Atlanta Daily World noted, the same FY2027 budget also steers new money into public safety, healthcare and workforce efforts, setting up a broader policy push around stability and opportunity.
For now, residents, developers and nonprofit partners are being told to keep an eye on county and Housing Authority channels for formal requests for applications and detailed guidelines once staff capacity and systems are fully in place. DeKalb’s housing fund ranks as one of the more ambitious county-level efforts in metro Atlanta to build a steady flow of capital for housing. The real test will come as the dollars hit real projects, and as the county tries to preserve affordability without pricing out the longtime neighborhoods it says it wants to protect. We will track implementation and share updates as new documents, timelines and application windows are released.
