A resolution asking the federal government to rethink the math behind affordable housing rents cleared its first hurdle at Atlanta City Hall on Tuesday, with a council committee voting unanimously to send it to the full council. The measure targets how the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development calculates area median income, or AMI, a figure that determines rent limits and eligibility for thousands of government-assisted renters across the city.
The Atlanta City Council's Community Development/Human Services Committee passed the resolution, sponsored by District 3 Council Member Byron Amos, as reported by Atlanta News First. The full council is scheduled to take up the resolution on Nov. 2, and if approved, it would take effect immediately. While it cannot force HUD to alter its methodology, the resolution urges the federal agency to revise how it sets AMI to better reflect local income conditions, prevent artificial rent increases and protect low-income and extremely low-income residents.
What the Resolution Asks HUD to Change
Specifically, the resolution calls on HUD to base annual AMI adjustments on observed local income growth rather than inflation or national escalation factors. It also asks the agency to cap annual AMI increases at 3% to 5%, unless a higher jump is justified by documented local income gains, according to the same report. The measure further asks HUD to maintain separate AMI tiers at 30% of AMI and below to preserve rent limits and eligibility rules for the lowest-income households.
Beyond the formula itself, the resolution asks HUD to use population-weighted income medians and subarea analysis to better capture variation within metropolitan regions, and to stop AMI increases from automatically raising maximum allowable rents in HUD-assisted programs without first conducting an affordability impact analysis. It directs Atlanta's Department of City Planning, the Housing Innovation Lab and Atlanta Housing to engage with HUD during any rulemaking or comment periods and to submit technical comments supporting the proposed changes. The municipal clerk would also send a copy to the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Georgia's congressional delegation, and the relevant House and Senate committees overseeing housing policy.
Why the Formula Matters to Renters
The mechanics of AMI matter because the figure HUD calculates each year for every county or metro area directly shapes income limits and, in some programs, allowable rents, according to the Urban Institute. When inflation outpaces local income growth, the institute's research shows, HUD's AMI calculation can end up higher than the area's actual median income — a gap that in 2022 helped drive the national average AMI up by more than 11%.
HUD has since adjusted its approach. Starting in fiscal year 2025, the agency began basing its lag-correction method on per-capita wage growth rather than inflation, a shift the Urban Institute's research found increased AMI by 2.6% across all areas that year, when wage growth measured 8.06% against a 5.32% inflation forecast. For 2026, HUD's income limits — released May 1 — rose by an average of 3.4% nationally, with a maximum allowable increase of 10% applied in 221 areas, per a Nelson Mullins analysis of the data. Because maximum rents in many programs are generally set at 30% of the applicable income limit, those annual swings can translate directly into what tenants owe.
The disparities aren't new. The Urban Institute's review of five metropolitan areas between 2010 and 2019 found AMI differed from the actual median income by about 5% on average, with the biggest gaps recorded in Nashville in 2010, where AMI ran 11% above the true median, and in Seattle in 2016, where it fell 12% below it. The institute has separately flagged that the largest AMI increases under newer methodology changes would hit lower-income metro counties primarily in the South and Southwest.
A Council Member and a Westside Renter
Amos, who represents District 3, said affordability is slipping out of the grasp of everyday Americans and argued the legislation addresses that problem, according to Atlanta News First's reporting. He said he hopes Georgia's federal representatives will support the resolution as it moves beyond City Hall.
For Maurice Harper, a retired senior and veteran who moved into an Atlanta Housing complex on the city's westside with his granddaughter last month, the stakes are personal. Harper now pays $720 a month in rent, about $500 less than at his previous residence, and described his current housing as nice, quiet, highly secured and affordable. But he also said past spikes in government-housing rent had forced him into difficult economic decisions, telling the outlet that rising monthly expenses can force a choice between paying bills, eating or buying medicine.
What Comes Next
The full council's Nov. 2 vote will determine whether Atlanta formally asks Washington to overhaul the AMI formula, though the resolution's language itself cannot compel HUD to act. The push arrives as federal regulators separately weigh changes to AMI geography; the Federal Housing Finance Agency proposed in June 2026 to alter how AMI geography is calculated, with that change targeted to take effect in 2028, per the Urban Institute. HUD, for its part, issues updated area median family income estimates and Section 8 income limits annually, according to a federal notice on the methodology.
