MARTA to help preserve affordable housing near rail

The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) earlier this week announced that Morgan Stanley has partnered with the National Equity Fund (NEF) to establish a fund to support the long-term preservation of affordable housing near MARTA rail stations. 

The Greater Atlanta Transit-Oriented Affordable Housing Preservation Fund will incentivize and provide gap funding for owners and landlords of affordable housing units, providing a major boost to MARTA’s transit-oriented development (TOD) program, MARTA officials said in a press release.

Morgan Stanley is committing $100 million through NEF to assist regional partners in preserving transit-oriented affordable multi-family housing.

“While MARTA is aggressively supporting the development of affordable housing units on our properties, new development takes time,” said MARTA General Manager and Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Parker. “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. Transit can be the great equalizer, providing access to education, jobs and health care.”

In 2010, MARTA's board adopted an affordable housing policy that requires 20% of residential rental units at MARTA's TODs be affordable to those earning 60% to 80% of the Metro Atlanta Area Median Income (AMI) and for-sale units affordable to those earning 80% to 100% of the AMI.