Knowledge Center

The ARPA Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds delivered $65.1 billion directly to the nation's cities, stabilizing budgets, maintaining core services and generating $2.84 in economic return for every dollar spent. This NLC analysis examines how that investment worked, why it succeeded and what it means for future federal funding.

Streets and roads, water systems, and sewer infrastructure are showing signs of strain in cities across the country, according to a new report from the National League of Cities. Closer to home, GMA projects Georgia cities will need $33 billion for capital projects over the next five years.

A landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling has made it harder for cities to use racial demographics as a primary factor in drawing district and ward maps, even when those decisions were intended to comply with the Voting Rights Act.

Housing has been a growing focus for Georgia cities and for GMA. At the association's May 1 Board of Directors meeting in College Park, GMA staff outlined the organization's policy work and efforts to document what cities are doing on housing, and board members from six cities shared what's happening in their own communities.

GMA's Larry Hanson and Georgia Association of Realtors CEO Brad Mock came at Georgia's shortage of 60,000 housing units from different angles at a Georgia Chamber Foundation meeting recently, but agreed that the problem runs deeper than the most common explanations suggest.