Happy Birthday OaksATL!

Reflecting on 9 years of OaksATL

Nine years ago, Matt Maxwell and the team at Peace Preparatory Academy started OaksATL because families in English Avenue were living in unsafe housing.

Over cafeteria tables in the basement of Lindsay Street Baptist Church, Matt signed OaksATL into existence. Since then, we have kept showing up in English Avenue and on Atlanta’s Historic Westside so that our neighbors can find home and put down roots in our community.

Here is a look back at the first nine years of OaksATL:

2017

We completed our first home renovation. At the time, we worked with a third party general contractor. This project pushed Matt to get his GC license in Georgia because we saw the need for high-quality construction in a neighborhood that has endured decades of disinvestment.

2018

We brought our first rental home online after a complete renovation, this time as our own general contractor. That home is still affordable today, and home to residents with ties to English Avenue.

2021

As housing costs continued to rise, so did the need for affordable long-term rentals. We completed our first multifamily renovation, bringing six families home at once.

2022-2024

Our resident population and rental portfolio was growing, so we leaned into community. We began hosting regular cookouts, town halls, and volunteer workdays.

We also launched two programs:

1. The 23:22 Plan to support residents with lower wages as costs rise,
2. alongside our Hardship Rental Assistance Fund to help residents navigate life’s unexpected expenses.

To date, we have distributed nearly $50,000 of OaksATL rental support funding, helping families stay rooted in their homes.

Along the way, partners asked us to bring our craftsmanship to their projects, too. To date, OaksATL has completed 43 housing projects for partners, with 17 currently underway. That work has created 100+ additional units of high-quality housing to our target neighborhoods, creating beautiful homes for hundreds of families across Atlanta’s Historic Westside.

2025

We brought our property management team in-house so we could better connect residents to supportive services. This fiscal year alone, we estimate accessing $40,000+ in rental assistance from our own programming and partnership funds, stabilizing housing for 13 households who needed additional support through hardship.

What’s coming in year 9?

557 Lindsay is expected to be completed this summer, including six units of affordable housing and two units of neighborhood retail to the corner of Lindsay Street and North Avenue. We are thrilled to bring these beautiful spaces online, creating home and opportunity for our neighbors.

We are also creating clearer pathways for residents to rise through our five year strategic plan Grow2030. One recent moment captured that hope. On February 1, a family who had been living in one of our 2 bed / 2 bath apartments received keys to our newest single-family rental. Same neighborhood. A new chapter. More room to grow.

Thank you for being part of these first nine years. If you have partnered with us, given, volunteered, prayed, or simply shared our story, we are grateful. We are here for the long haul, rebuilding places and restoring dignity, one neighbor and one home at a time.