BeltLine for All
Tell policymakers: The BeltLine should be for ALL Atlantans
Sign the petition to urge policymakers to work with Atlanta community residents and organizers to reconsider the policies that shape the current affordable housing policy and financing landscape and to collectively arrive at creative solutions to ensure a BeltLine and an Atlanta that is truly for everyone!
Get Involved!
There are multiple ways you can plug into this campaign. It’s only with your help that we will reach our goal of a BeltLine for All Atlantans! Our current focus is on getting signatures for our BeltLine for All petition.
Host a BeltLine for All petition drive: Do you want to spread the word about the gentrification caused by the BeltLine? And work towards a future of more affordable housing in Atlanta? Then sign up to host a petition drive! You and other volunteers will spend a couple of hours having conversations with people about the effects of the BeltLine and collecting signatures on our BeltLine for All petition. We will make sure you have everything you need to have a great drive. Email us at housingjusticeleagueatl.org if you’re interested in hosting a drive. Also, keep an eye out on our FB page for future drives to attend.
Host a Dinner and Dialogue: Interested in having deeper conversations about the BeltLine? Do you know people who may want to learn more about this issue? We can support you in hosting a potluck Dinner and Dialogue event at your home! This is a great chance to have deeper conversation about this topic in a relaxed community setting. This event could also be a discussion over coffee or drinks - feel free to get creative! Send us an email at housingjusticeleagueatl@gmail.com if you are interested.
Bring the petition to your work/school/congregation/etc: Reaching out to your personal networks is crucial in building this campaign. If you would like, an HJL member will gladly give a short presentation on the BeltLine for All campaign to your coworkers during a lunch break, or in your classroom, etc. Send us an email at housingjusticeleagueatl@gmail.com to connect with us.
Post the petition on social media: Help us leverage the power of social media to educate our communities and build power! We suggest sending the online petition to individual friends and asking them to sign, or tagging individuals in a post.
RESEARCH REPORT - FULL VERSION
Read the full version of the participatory action research report, "BeltLining: Gentrification, Broken Promises, and Hope on Atlanta's Southside," that was designed and conducted by members of the Housing Justice League and residents of the communities that face displacement from the rapid development of the BeltLine and gentrification of historically black neighborhoods around it.
Starting in October 2016, Housing Justice League led a community-based research and organizing campaign focused on the Atlanta BeltLine and its impact on housing affordability and neighborhood stability, looking closely at issues of gentrification and displacement. Our members conducted 31 in-depth interviews with residents living in Southside Atlanta neighborhoods and collected 143 surveys from 19 different BeltLine communities located all around the city. We conducted outreach in neighborhoods along the BeltLine's path, primarily on the Southwest and Southeast trails.
How often do you have conversations about the Beltline? How often do you have conversations about the Beltline on the Beltline? Housing Justice League needs volunteers to have a consistent presence on the BeltLine to inform, take up space, raise awareness, and get the petition signed for reallocating resources towards affordable housing. Are you interested in making affordable housing a political priority in the City of Atlanta to end mass displacement? Come volunteer as a petition canvasser for the #Beltline4All campaign on the Beltline! Go to the “Get Involved” tab to learn more about ways to support this campaign. #takeupspace #signthepetition #affordablehousing
Thousands of people walk on the BeltLine every day with little understanding or willful ignorance of the harm this public-private mega development project is causing to long-term communities of color. It’s time for Atlanta residents to take a political stand on the affordable housing crisis. Through the petition drive we will ask people to think critically and act ethically. The City of Atlanta must reallocate resources towards affordable housing and end tax breaks for corporate development.
A lot of people (especially higher income newcomers) do not think about how private investment and gentrification harm low-income communities of color. Many people we talk with through our work on affordable housing politics will say that gentrification is the only way to “improve” historically marginalized and disinvested communities. Housing Justice League does not see it as “improvement” when communities are no longer there to access the new amenities brought in by gentrification. Or, if they are still there, the new amenities are unaffordable and aren’t appropriate for their needs.
We are bringing together residents concerned with issues related to the BeltLine's development and working together to develop a collective action campaign using the research and information we've gathered, and our personal experiences of displacement, to organize for a BeltLine for All, and Development Without Displacement. If you live in a BeltLine neighborhood and are impacted by the rising costs associated with the BeltLine, join our campaign! Our campaign meeting times/locations vary, so email us at housingjusticeleagueatl@gmail.com if you would like to join!
The BeltLine promised much needed services and opportunities to historically disinvested communities, but failed to recognize the need to center residents’ voices within decision-making processes in order to meet the critical needs of long-time residents and avoid the historical and continuing patterns of racism, displacement, and disinvestment. What we have seen so far makes clear the disparity in power between low-income communities and wealthy developers. Our campaign is working to reverse the unjust trends that have been set with the BeltLine development project.
Mass education and community organizing will create strong measures of accountability to reverse these patterns. We are working to promote a recognition of differences in the cultures and needs of low-income communities and to put residents voices at the center of decision-making processes. Massive urban development projects like the BeltLine must provide reinvestment to the communities that big developers consistently take advantage of.
Our approach includes:
Mass education among both long-time residents and newcomers through popular education workshops
Holding public officials responsible to push for equitable, anti-racist policies
Direct action and protest to engage wider audiences