Councilmember Liliana Bakhtiari (they/she)

Atlanta City Councilmember, District 5

Liliana Bakhtiari is a proud Atlantan, lifelong advocate for social justice, and a second-term member of the Atlanta City Council. Born in Southeast Atlanta to Iranian immigrant parents, they made history as the City’s first nonbinary councilmember and Georgia’s first out queer Muslim elected to office.

Since taking office in 2022, Bakhtiari has led with a people-first agenda focused on housing affordability, public space revitalization, environmental resilience, and humane approaches to homelessness. Their legislative work includes guaranteeing legal representation for tenants facing eviction, decriminalizing abortion after the Dobbs decision, and requiring City-funded housing developments to accept source-of-income vouchers. Their advocacy has helped secure over $15 million for deeply affordable housing in District 5, supporting more than 7,300 new affordable and mixed-income units across Southeast Atlanta.

Bakhtiari has championed equitable infrastructure investments—new sidewalks, safer crossings, better lighting, and redesigned public spaces—and led the City’s first block-level Heat Vulnerability Assessment. They have also advanced major environmental initiatives, including the Cool Roof ordinance and the creation of the City’s first Clean Energy Trust Fund to support weatherization and utility relief for the most heat-burdened communities.

Their office launched Atlanta’s first neighborhood-based case management pilot, connecting unhoused residents with housing, healthcare, and support services through on-the-ground relationships and community partnership.

Before public office, Bakhtiari spent more than a decade in nonprofit and public health roles, including at Planned Parenthood Southeast and Partners for Home, and founded the storytelling nonprofit Barefoot Gypsy. A 2023 David Bohnett Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, they have been recognized as one of Atlanta Magazine’s “500 Most Powerful Leaders,” Out Georgia’s “Next Gen Leader of the Year,” and the Georgia Voice’s “Person of the Year.”

Across every initiative, Bakhtiari remains committed to building a more equitable, connected, and joyful Atlanta—one rooted in care for our people and communities.