The Low Income Investment Fund's (LIIF) publication, City Playbook for Child Care: How Georgia Cities Can Lead Efforts to Increase the Supply of Child Care, argues that licensed child care is as fundamental to civic health as roads or water lines.
2023 licensing data list 5,344 programs but still leave a net deficit of more than 4,000 seats statewide. Coupled with average infant-care costs of roughly $11,000 a year, these shortages curb parents’ ability to work and slow local economic growth.
The playbook shows how cities have leverage even without funding programs directly:
- simplify zoning and permits so centers open “by right,”
- align local rules with state licensing to cut duplicate fees,
- embed facilities in affordable housing and transit corridors, and
- tap tools such as Tax Allocation District revenues or CDBG funds.
When cities ease red tape and treat child care as core infrastructure, they can unlock family stability, and help create stronger labor markets and more resilient communities.
Resources
Dashboard: Child Care Supply and Demand in the State of Georgia
Low Income Investment Fund Early Care and Education Program