Inclusionary Zoning and Athens’ Affordability Crisis

API's Co-Executive Director and 3rd year Comparative Literature, International Affairs, and Political Science major Emma Grace Jarvis explores the potential of inclusionary zoning as a strategy to address Athens-Clarke County's affordable housing crisis and the limitations the current voluntary approach poses in the Athens community.

It is no secret to any Athens resident or student at UGA that there is an affordable housing crisis in the Athens-Clarke County community. Over 8,800 renter households in Athens are struggling with rent, with many of them making less than $35,000 per year (Aued 2025). Over the past five years and beyond, the ACC County Commission has worked to find solutions for Athens citizens needing more affordable rent. Inclusionary zoning has stood out as one of the most promising policy ideas, being implemented in other cities in Georgia such as Atlanta and Decatur (Dowd 2023). 

Inclusionary zoning is defined as “a policy that requires or encourages developers to set aside a fraction of newly constructed housing units to be affordable to lower-income households” and can work to promote racial and economic equity within the affordable housing framework (PolicyLink). It seeks to blend high and low income households, to battle the economic segregation that often exists within affordable housing developments (PolicyLink). Typically, the developments involved in inclusionary zoning are part of more resource-rich areas, and can be better for community development. In California, for example, 170 jurisdictions have adopted mandatory inclusionary zoning, leading to over 30,000 affordable housing units being constructed (PolicyLink). 

The issue in the feasibility of its implementation comes from Georgia’s legal landscape for landlords and the voluntary nature of the policy as it was adopted in Athens (Dowd 2023). Georgia prohibits rent-control of any kind statewide, and this program could be seen as dangerously close to being illegal if implemented as a mandatory program (Dowd 2023). This led to the Commission passing the ordinance in April of 2022 as a completely voluntary program, severely weakening its efficacy. One can infer why a program strictly being voluntary would not work. The multi-million dollar apartment developments that have been built in downtown Athens are focused on the bottom line profit, not the ensuring of affordability. Even with the benefits of being able to build more units than typically allowed and 20% fewer parking, the developers would still pay from $135,000 to $165,000 for these affordable units, offsetting the other benefits (Dowd 2023).

The efficacy of the inclusionary zoning program in Atlanta contrasts to the Athens one, in which it is mandatory for multiple-family housing units with ten or more units on the West-side or the Beltline neighborhood to have affordable housing units (City of Atlanta 2020). This original zoning ordinance was implemented in 2018, with updates in 2021 and has been running ever since. The city has faced no major lawsuits regarding the program.

Athens is much smaller than the city of Atlanta, however, and does not have as much political and economic sway at the state level, leading the Commission to uphold a voluntary system. To address these limitations, the Commission could rework the benefits to gain tax incentives that would offset the costs of the units, and make inclusionary zoning more mandatory for large apartment developments. Either way, Athens-Clarke County still has a long way to go to ensure affordable housing for its residents. 

References

Aued, B. (2025). Is Athens-Clarke County’s affordable housing problem too big to solve? - flagpole. Flagpole Magazine. https://flagpole.com/news/city-dope/2025/08/20/is-athens-clarke-countys-affordable-housing-problem-too-big-to-solve/

City of Atlanta. (2020). Inclusionary zoning | Atlanta, GA. City of Atlanta Government. https://www.atlantaga.gov/government/departments/city-planning/housing/inclusionary-zoning

Dowd, C. (2023, November 19). Inclusionary zoning could bring more affordable housing to Athens. Athens Politics Nerd. https://athenspoliticsnerd.com/inclusionary-zoning-affordable-housing-athens/

PolicyLink. (n.d.). Inclusionary zoning | Policylink. PolicyLink. https://www.policylink.org/resources-tools/tools/all-in-cities/housing-anti-displacement/inclusionary-zoning