This article was published by KFF Health News. STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. — As principal of Dunaire Elementary School, Sean Deas has seen firsthand the struggles faced by children living in extended-stay hotels. About 10% of students at his school, just east of Atlanta, live in one. The children, Deas said, often have been exposed to […]
Homelessness
Coverage of how Atlanta’s housing costs, city policies, race, and systemic inequality are shaping who becomes homeless or unhoused—and what happens next.
Posted inHousing, Partner Content, Politics & Policy
Housing-First Policies Are on the Ballot This Presidential Election
This story was originally published by Atlanta Civic Circle. One of the nation’s most widely embraced strategies to combat homelessness — getting people housed first and then addressing other needs around mental health, addiction, and employment — faces an existential threat in the upcoming presidential election. Like Democratic and Republican administrations before it, the Biden […]
Posted inHousing
Homeless Census Reveals a Rise in Unhoused Black Workers in Atlanta
Lower-income Black workers whose stagnant wages aren’t keeping up with rent prices are driving the growth in Atlanta’s homeless population, according to an annual count of the city’s unhoused. The ranks of Atlanta’s homeless grew to 2,867 people, a 7% spike from the 2,679 homeless people counted in January 2023 in Partners for HOME’s annual […]
Posted inElections, Politics & Policy, Voting
Advocates Are Working to Ensure Homeless Georgians Can Vote in November
James McWhorter was surprised in October when he received a letter in the mail informing him a DeKalb County resident had challenged his eligibility to vote because his listed address didn’t match the driver’s license he used to register back in 2008. The 55-year-old barber and Army veteran, who lives in Stone Mountain, explained at […]
Posted inHousing, Politics & Policy
Will Kemp Sign Tenant Rights and Homeless Trust Fund Bills Into Law?
Housing advocates want to know whether Gov. Brian Kemp will sign two bills to address long-running housing issues across Georgia: tenants’ rights and the state’s growing homeless population. The first bill, HB 404, or the Safe at Home Act, would bar landlords from requiring more than two months’ rent for a security deposit and establish […]
Posted inHousing, Politics & Policy
Homelessness, Housing, and Inequality Dominate Dickens’ Speech
Mayor Andre Dickens highlighted his administration’s efforts to address Atlanta’s affordable housing and homelessness crises in his annual State of the City address Monday morning. Dickens told attendees inside Midtown’s Woodruff Arts Center that his administration is well on its way toward creating 20,000 affordable housing units by the year 2030. That includes more than […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Black Atlanta Wants Rent Control. Will State Lawmakers Help Them Get It?
Advocates pushing for Georgia lawmakers to lift a decades-old, statewide ban on rent control face an uphill battle in the current 40-day legislative session, which started last Monday. “I don’t see that happening,” state Sen. Gloria Butler, a Democrat representing Stone Mountain, told Capital B Atlanta in December. “I’m being realistic because these are real […]
Posted inEveryday Heroes
Nourishing Hope: Erica ‘Umi’ Clahar’s Umi Feeds Transforms Lives in Atlanta
We’ve partnered with the AJC to help recognize amazing Georgians who have done their small part to make a big difference. We’ve profiled three of the 52 people who remind each of us that acts of kindness are never random. You can meet the rest of this year’s ‘Everyday Heroes’: ajc.com/heroes In the heart of Atlanta, […]
Posted inHousing
City’s ‘Rapid Housing’ for Homeless Proposal Angers Many in Mechanicsville
Mechanicsville resident Maurice Killing has been living on the streets for about three years, a reality he wants and expects Atlanta leaders to help him change in the near future. “I’m just hoping I can get another place to stay,” Killing said Friday while sitting in a lawn chair outside the tent city near Cooper […]