Secure Neighborhoods

Community policing is a core principle of the Atlanta Police Department. APD has long recognized that its officers must have a first-hand knowledge of the people and neighbor­hoods that they protect and serve. APF’s Secure Neighborhoods initiative addresses this fundamental mission by enabling officers to live and work in the city which they serve.

The program has four components:

  • The Secure Neighborhoods Home Officers Program
  • The Community Courtesy Officer Program
  • The Community Safety Housing Program
  • Unity Place Recruit Housing

THE SECURE NEIGHBORHOODS HOME OFFICERS PROGRAM provides APD officers with the opportunity to purchase a new home at reduced costs in strategic neighborhoods within the City of Atlanta. In return, officers agree to act as neighborhood ambassadors through commu­nity engagement, including playing an active role in neighborhood associations while patrolling their new communities. Since the program’s inception, 31 officers have purchased homes, two have rented homes, and 14 new homes are under construction to be completed in 2024.

COMMUNITY COURTESY OFFICER PROGRAM provides unique and affordable pathways to in-city residency for participat­ing APD officers. Through the program, qualified APD officers are selected to serve as courtesy officers to work with their apartment’s management to build community trust, deter crime, and increase public safety in apartment communities. This program supports recruitment and retention efforts for these critical first responders. Our goal is to place 150 APD officers in various apart­ment communities over the next three years.

COMMUNITY SAFETY HOUSING PROGRAM subsidizes in-city apartment residency for Atlanta’s first responders, including fire, corrections, and police personnel, to facilitate neighborly and voluntary interactions between them and those they protect. Thus far, the City of Atlanta has given $500,000 toward this program to financially support first responders with up to $850 per month toward rent.

UNITY PLACE RECRUIT HOUSING opened in February 2022 on the Westside. Funded by a grant from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, the apartment complex houses 30 APD recruits during their training in the Atlanta Police Training Academy. The program – unique in the nation – helps our recruits learn the culture of the neighborhood in which they live and are sworn to protect. This commitment to community engagement has been so successful that APF is planning to build another Recruit Housing Complex.

For more information or to apply for a program, please visit www.secureneighborhoods.info.