ATLANTA — The Atlanta housing market continues to be a hot topic for anyone living and working in the city, but there’s an effort underway to ease the financial burden for those on the frontlines working to keep residents safe.
On Wednesday, Andrea and Ryan Jones signed closing documents for their brand-new home in Atlanta's Pittsburgh neighborhood, a result of support from the Atlanta Police Foundation's "Secure Neighborhoods" program.
"It's a great opportunity for us," Andrea Jones shared. "It's a moment we've been looking forward to for a long time. We're looking forward to having our family in the city."
Jones is a city of Atlanta police officer, serving APD for the past five years; her husband, Ryan, works as a firefighter with Atlanta Fire Rescue where he's served for twelve years.
The couple previously commuted to their jobs in the city from Woodstock, but the Secure Neighborhoods program aims to bring first responders closer to the communities they serve.
"Most people want to live where they work, and sometimes they can't afford to do that," Tokisha Charles, a real estate program manager for the foundation, said. "So we make it affordable for our officers to live in the city."
The program offers APD officers the chance to buy a new home at reduced costs, Charles shared, in strategic neighborhoods within the city -- with the goal to also strengthen both the community and overall safety.
"We don't want an officer to work in the city but live in Gwinnett County," Charles said. "We want them to live in the city, get to know their neighbors, their neighbors get to know them."
Qualified Atlanta police officers can apply to the program and purchase a home in exchange for serving as a community ambassador for five years; the housing is often built within blocks of the foundation's other programming initiatives, such as the ""At-Promise" centers for local youth.
"And so kids aren't afraid of the officers, they know the officer," Charles said. "So if something happens, they know the family. It's a better conversation."
The ability to live and work in the community they protect is also a win for the Jones' growing family.
"My drive home is only five minutes," Ryan Jones said. "That relieves a lot of stress on coming home to my family and being a dad and husband as well."