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Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
If Atlanta Is a Black Mecca, Why Are 8 Out of 10 Homeless People Black?
Forty-seven percent of Atlanta residents are Black, but the city commonly referred to as the Black Mecca had a homeless population in January that was 80% Black, according to the latest Point-In-Time homelessness census count released on Monday. Of equal concern, on Jan. 27, the city logged 131 homeless families, an 18% rise from the same month last year. Roughly 90% of the individuals in those families were Black, down about 2 points from 2024. Like many cities in America, Atlanta has seen an increase in homelessness — primarily fueled by Black people living on the margins — for a third consecutive year. But city leaders and advocates alike are touting that the rate of increase has slowed considerably. The annual survey of homeless people in the metro area revealed a 1% rise in Atlanta's overall homeless population. The city saw a 7% year-over-year increase in 2024, and a 33% surge in 2023. The results from this year's PIT count show the city's homeless crisis appears to be 'stabilizing,' according to Cathryn Vassell, CEO of Partners for HOME — the nonprofit that manages Atlanta's PIT count on behalf of the federal government. Vassell told Capital B Atlanta that Black Atlantans remain overrepresented among individuals experiencing homelessness due to 'continued disproportionate inequities' in the metro area. The stark disparity underscores the ongoing economic challenges and affordable housing crisis many Black people face in a gentrifying metropolis fueled by a booming economy that has become known as the most unequal city in America. 'We know that there is gross income inequality that is disproportionate racially in our community as well,' Vassell said. 'That is all contributing to the disproportionate representation of people of color in our system.' The PIT count data showed Atlanta's higher cost of living has fueled a sizable rise in the city's number of homeless families this year despite signs that municipal leaders have reached a turning point in their battle to provide housing to people living on the margins. Read More: Atlanta's Largest Homeless Encampment Is About to Be Cleared The nearly 27% rate of consumer price inflation in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metro area between January 2020 and August 2024 was the third highest in the nation, according to a Pew Research study released in October. The fact that 8 out of 10 homeless people are Black in a city known as a Black Mecca should 'stop everyone in their tracks.' Liliana Bakhtiari, Atlanta City Council member '[The data] is a signal that the house is still on fire, and the scale of the crisis is bigger than what cities alone can handle,' Atlanta City Council member Liliana Bakhtiari told Capital B Atlanta after attending a briefing on this year's PIT count last week. The fact that 8 out of 10 homeless people are Black in a city known as a Black Mecca should 'stop everyone in their tracks,' according to Bakhtiari. 'That's not a coincidence, that's the product of a system that's failed Black families for generations — due to redlining, due to wage discrimination, due to mass incarceration, due to unequal access to healthcare and education,' she added. 'Homelessness isn't just a housing problem. It's a justice problem.' The report noted the strides the city has made addressing homelessness in recent years, citing that the overall homeless population has declined 30% since 2016 and about 11% since 2020 despite increasing for the past three years. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens has made increasing affordable housing and combatting homelessness two of his signature issues since taking office almost four years ago. Last year, the Atlanta City Council allocated $60 million at Dickens' request to addressing the growing homelessness problem. Those funds, Vassell said, are paying for construction of 500 rapid housing units for the homeless, including 40 apartments at the Melody Project, located in southern downtown Atlanta, and 23 at the Bonaventure, both of which opened last year. Dickens' office hasn't responded to requests for comment. Read More: Revamped Motel Gives Atlanta Unhoused Second Chance— But for How Long? 'By the end of the year we will have brought on 500 units from that $60 million,' Vassell said. Unfortunately, Vassell warns, the progress Atlanta has made housing its homeless population could be undone later this year if President Donald Trump advances his plan for significant budget cuts. The Trump administration has proposed cutting rental aid by 40% in its 'Big, Beautiful Bill,' which the U.S. House approved in May. Vassell called the proposed cuts 'terrifying' and said it could eliminate Atlanta's permanent supportive housing and rapid rehousing programs funded through the city's Continuum of Care resources. As many as 2,000 people could lose stable housing, according to Vassell. 'This would be a tragic impact across our community,' she said. The post If Atlanta Is a Black Mecca, Why Are 8 Out of 10 Homeless People Black? appeared first on Capital B News - Atlanta.
Miami Herald
21-05-2025
- General
- Miami Herald
Proposed cuts could make housing homeless people harder, advocates say
ATLANTA - Willie Jeffries spent four years living in a large homeless camp in Atlanta's Mechanicsville neighborhood. He finally received housing in October but was evicted roughly six months later for violating the stringent terms of his lease agreement. On the first day of his return to homelessness, Jeffries said he visited an encampment in the same neighborhood where he had been living in a tent last year - just off Cooper Street Southwest. He didn't sleep there that first night but stopped by because someone in the camp had a tent for sale. "They want $25, and I don't have that," said Jeffries when reached by phone that day, May 9, while killing time near Cooper Street and trying to decide his next move. "It's been six months since I had been out here. I've pretty much got to get back into it." Jeffries, 60, ended up spending the next several nights sleeping in a truck borrowed from a friend. He and 43 other people who used to live in the sprawling Cooper Street camp received "rapid rehousing" after the city closed the camp in October. The area of the encampment was cleared and fenced off to make way for a development that will include housing for more than 100 people who used to be homeless. Rapid rehousing is a program that offers rental assistance for up to two years and case management services. It is designed to help someone experiencing homelessness by giving them a place to live for a set period of time, often without having to pay rent and utilities. The hope is that they can get a job and eventually pay those expenses. Advocates for the homeless population emphasize that it takes some people, like Jeffries, more than one housing placement before they find the right fit. They fear the problem might get even worse, given President Donald Trump's proposal for massive cuts to programs that play a role in local efforts to prevent homelessness. "Rapid rehousing is also a very challenging housing intervention," said Cathryn Vassell, chief executive officer of Partners for HOME, the nonprofit that works with the city of Atlanta on its strategy to reduce homelessness. "There's less-intensive supports provided, and yet we're sometimes housing people that are highly vulnerable in what's designed to be a more independent - ultimately self-sufficient - intervention," Vassell said in an interview this month. Vassell said cities like San Francisco and Denver have many more resources dedicated to stemming homelessness. "These are incredibly resource-rich communities with Medicaid expansion and county mental health at the table and all kinds of funding mechanisms to support that work of stabilizing somebody in housing," she said. "We're operating on a shoestring and desperately trying to get people out of a very unsafe and terrible situation of being unsheltered and homeless and then trying to make sure they are stabilizing in housing and being a good neighbor and being a good tenant and all those things that collide." The Trump administration has proposed a $33.6 billion cut to funding for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, a funding decrease of nearly 44%, and allowing states to design their own rental assistance programs. U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner called the proposal bold and said it would reimagine how the federal government addresses affordable housing and community development. "It creates the opportunity for greater partnership and collaboration across levels of government by requiring states and localities to have skin in the game and carefully consider how their policies hinder or advance goals of self-sufficiency and economic prosperity," Turner said in a statement. The White House recommendations for the fiscal year 2026 budget also call for cutting $532 million by consolidating the Continuum of Care Program and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS into an Emergency Solutions Grant program that provides short-term housing assistance, capped at two years for homeless individuals. The proposal also includes eliminating the Community Development Block Grant program and the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, which provides grants to state and local governments to create affordable housing for low-income households. "Less people will be housed, and more people will be forced into homelessness" if Trump's proposed cuts take effect, said Donald Whitehead Jr., executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless. Referring to Jeffries and others like him, Whitehead added: "His path is exacerbated by these cuts. It's going to make it a lot harder for him to be rehoused." In Atlanta, one of Partners for HOME's key goals is to move people experiencing homelessness into "permanent housing," which includes rapid rehousing, as quickly as possible, and into the right program for the individual, Vassell said. The term "permanent housing" does not guarantee someone a home for life. It usually involves an initial term of at least one year that is renewable for no less than one month. Permanent supportive housing involves long-term leases or rental assistance and consistent supportive services for issues like mental illness and substance use. Studies have shown its effectiveness, but it also costs more than other types of housing over time. "If somebody is chronically homeless, then we're trying to get them into permanent supportive housing," Vassell said. "If they are not chronic, then we are using other tools like rapid rehousing." If Partners for HOME doesn't have sufficient permanent housing options available on the day of an encampment closure, "then we are rallying (emergency) shelter as an interim solution while that person works on their housing solution from shelter." About 75% of people who leave rapid rehousing in Atlanta either stay housed or exit to a permanent destination, like living with family, in the first two years, according to Vassell. "Shelter is a very challenging environment to document outcomes in general, and transitional housing is as well," Vassell said. "Whether someone is moving to housing or if they're going back to homelessness, they're oftentimes not doing an exit interview with the shelter (or) transitional housing program. "Even if they get housing or they move back in with family, they might be gone even if you were expecting them back the same day, and they're not calling you back to tell you where they went and whether it was a positive exit or not." How difficult it is for someone to transition from living in a homeless encampment to an apartment, of course, depends on the individual. "Sometimes a person gets in and they're able to stay for as long as they have a lease or as long as they have a subsidy," Whitehead said. "Other people will have to be relocated for various reasons." He added: "It is often a sizable adjustment for people who have been living outdoors for various lengths of time to adjust to living in an apartment, for a number of reasons." These include problems getting along with neighbors in an apartment complex and issues such as substance use, advocates say. Jeffries said he was evicted this month for violating his lease, including for letting people sleep there without getting them approved first and for having people over and making noise. His landlord declined to discuss the specifics of Jeffries' eviction. Case managers for people experiencing homelessness say some of their clients make a point of following their lease agreements to the letter, knowing that homelessness awaits if they don't do so. Others still spend time in the encampments they used to live in, making it hard to leave their friends behind and return to their apartments alone. Jeffries said he let people spend the night in his apartment when it was too cold for them to sleep outdoors because friends had done the same for him when he was homeless. "It's very understandable," Whitehead said. "People go to encampments because they are attempting to find a sense of community. When they get a roof over their head, it's a very natural, compassionate thing to try to ensure that other people in that community are safe from the elements and any kind of human danger." On the day of Jeffries' eviction, a friend agreed to keep some of his belongings for him and loaned Jeffries his truck to move them out of the apartment. Jeffries had found work as a handyman but said he owed people money and didn't have any left by the time he was evicted. He was planning to call his mother in California to see if she could send him some. Despite his recent struggles, Jeffries takes pride in some of the positive changes he has made in his life. He said he stopped using hard drugs like cocaine and heroin 38 years ago, quit drinking about six years ago and hasn't been incarcerated since 2003. Now that Jeffries is back on the street, he is hoping for another chance at housing. "If I go to another place," he said, "I'll do the right thing this time." Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Yahoo
Why Affordable Housing Advocates Worry Atlanta's Unhoused Population Is Growing
It's been about three years since Janice Ruff reported her former landlord to the Atlanta Police Department's housing code enforcement division for refusing to make repairs to her old apartment. That landlord received an estimated $3,500 fine, according to Ruff, who said he evicted her a short time later for having a 'smart mouth.' She's been homeless ever since. Capital B Atlanta spotted the 62-year-old Ruff using a walker to travel down Cleveland Avenue on Wednesday. Advocates say she's one of a growing number of unhoused Black Atlantans struggling to get back on their feet who list the higher cost of rent and lack of affordable housing as their biggest obstacles. 'It's real hard out here,' Ruff told Capital B Atlanta. 'You can't find no low-income apartments. … You got to have enough income. You have to have enough [security deposit] to be able to get an apartment.' Atlanta's homeless population appears to be on the rise for the third consecutive year, according to experts who say low-income, often Black, city residents who've lived here most of their lives make up the majority of those dwelling on the streets, in shelters, and in extended-stay hotels. The homeless aid group known as Partners for HOME and its affiliate partners in Atlanta Continuum of Care conducted their annual point-in-time census count of the metro area's unhoused community this week from Monday through Wednesday. The count is submitted annually to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to determine the number of people experiencing homelessness across the country. The federal government uses this data to allocate resources to local aid providers. The official homelessness count total won't be released until later this year, but aid group leaders say they anticipate another surge. The homeless count conducted in 2023 revealed a 33% year-over-year rise in the number of unhoused people living in the Atlanta metro area. Last year, their ranks grew by 7% to nearly 2,900, enough to make Atlanta's homeless population the 25th largest in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report. Black people, who constitute about 47% of the city's population, made up roughly 86% of the city's homeless population last year, according to Partners for HOME. 'My guess is that we will probably see, at minimal, a 7% increase yet again, if not more, but what that number would be is really too early to tell,' Raphael Holloway, CEO of the Gateway Center, a homeless service provider that manages four local homeless services locations, told Capital B Atlanta on Wednesday. Holloway and other homeless aid advocates stressed the need to wait for their full count before precise deductions can be made, but based their preliminary conclusions on their own observations over the past year. Multiple aid workers said tent cities have grown larger, more visible, and harder for public officials to ignore downtown near Atlanta City Hall, the Georgia State Capitol, and the headquarters of the Gateway Center, which manages roughly 600 total beds in the city. The problem appears to be worsening, according to Tracy Woodard, program manager for InTown Cares, a nonprofit that specializes in working with unhoused residents who've been homeless for extended periods of time. Woodard expressed confidence that this year's final homeless count will 'definitely increase' and said more than half of the unhoused people she encounters regularly are 'Grady babies,' legacy Atlanta residents who are overwhelmingly Black and often low-income. Woodard said the greatest cause of their displacement is the high cost of rent. The median rent price for a one-bedroom apartment in Atlanta reached nearly $1,700 this month, according to up 10.7% from 2019. Rent prices in metro Atlanta leveled off last year since peaking in 2022, according to an Atlanta Regional Commission report, but rates have remained higher than they were prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. 'Before the pandemic. I would work with these people who were getting a Social Security check, which is $750, $800 a month, and I could find them a room for maybe $500 a month,' Woodard said. '[Today], you can't find that within 50 miles of Atlanta.' One of the more distressing realities of Atlanta's problem with homelessness is the growing number of unhoused people who are gainfully employed but still don't earn enough to afford rent in the city where they work. Woodard estimates half of the unhoused people with whom she works have full-time jobs. She said many work in food service, hospitality, and service sector industries that used to pay enough to live in Atlanta before low-income housing vanished. She said policymakers concerned about maximizing real estate profits need to consider who's going to do lower-paying service industry work in a city where many low-income residents don't own vehicles. 'They're making $15 an hour. Where are they going to stay?' she said. 'Are they going to drive two hours each way? … No. You need to have something that's in the city so that you can keep the city running.' Both Woodard and Holloway praised Mayor Andre Dickens for prioritizing affordable housing construction, but they also expressed concern that the many units being built are priced too high. Those housing costs also affect folks who help the unhoused, according to Holloway, who said many homeless aid workers are leaving the sector because it doesn't pay well enough to keep up with the cost of living. 'You have this dynamic of the individuals that are providing the service also now going through struggles to work in this space because of the cost of living and the impact inflation is having on their lives,' he said. 'It's becoming more and more difficult to even draw people to want to work in the homelessness space.' Increasing funding for substance abuse and mental health training is one of the main proposals recommended by Holloway and Woodard in addition to building more low-income housing and adopting 'Housing First' aid policy initiatives. Ruff said most of Atlanta's so-called affordable housing units aren't affordable for people like her. 'Help me find a low-income apartment, and I'll bet you I pay my rent every month,' she said. The post Why Affordable Housing Advocates Worry Atlanta's Unhoused Population Is Growing appeared first on Capital B News - Atlanta.
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Atlanta mayor calls on Trump to ‘immediately restore' funding after freezing federal aid
Atlanta's mayor is calling on the Trump administration to immediately restore 'funding for Atlanta and the entire region' after it announced that it would be putting a pause on federal grants and loans starting at 5 p.m. Tuesday. President Trump said his administration was going to begin an across-the-board ideological review of its spending. It said federal assistance to individuals would not be affected, including Social Security, Medicare, food stamps, student loans and scholarships. However, the funding freeze could affect trillions of dollars, at least temporarily, and cause widespread disruption in healthcare research, education programs and other initiatives. Even grants that have been awarded but not spent are supposed to be halted. In a statement from Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, he said: 'These actions adversely affect not only the City's funding for affordable housing, assistance for our unsheltered residents, economic development projects, salaries and investments in our infrastructure and public safety—they also affect partner agencies like Atlanta Housing, Partners for HOME and other organizations who currently cannot access the portals they use to pay people's rents, operational costs or fund economic programs; in turn placing an even heavier burden on the communities we collectively serve.' TRENDING STORIES: Town Center at Cobb closed after Georgia Power says mall owners haven't paid bills Wife of man arrested by ICE says agents were waiting outside their church in Tucker Delta Lounge at Atlanta airport hiring for over 90 positions at job fair today It's unclear from a White House memo how sweeping the pause will be. Matthew Vaeth, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote that 'each agency must complete a comprehensive analysis of all of their Federal financial assistance programs to identify programs, projects, and activities that may be implicated by any of the President's executive orders.' He also wrote that the pause should be implemented 'to the extent permissible under applicable law.' 'More than 18,000 residents who rely on housing vouchers currently do not know how their rent will be paid next month, and workers across various federally funded programs risk losing their pay. The Dickens Administration calls on all White House decision makers to immediately restore this funding for Atlanta and the entire region—and the families from all stations of life who will suffer the consequences,' Dickens said. ABC News contributed to this article.
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Yahoo
Blue city looks to halt homeless encampment sweeps after city truck crushes sleeping man
The mayor of Atlanta is looking to pause the city's homeless encampment sweeps following an incident when witnesses said they watched a city truck fatally crush a sleeping man two weeks ago. According to a FOX 5 Atlanta report, witnesses described seeing an Atlanta City Public Works truck run over the man while he was asleep in his tent earlier this month. The Fulton County Medical Examiner later identified the victim as 49-year-old Cornelius Taylor. "The male was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced deceased," the Atlanta Police Department said in a statement. "The homicide unit responded to the scene and will be the lead on this death investigation." "I am saddened by this terrible incident and extend my thoughts and prayers to the family of the deceased," Mayor Andre Dickens said in a statement. "We will review each of our processes and procedures and take every precaution to ensure this never happens again and while we continue our important work to house our unsheltered population and bring our neighbors inside." Homeless In America: How Bad Is The Crisis Right Now? In a video posted on his Instagram account last Friday, Dickens also said that he is working with the Atlanta City Council to introduce new legislation to address the situation. Read On The Fox News App "This legislation also includes a temporary moratorium on encampment closures to allow us time to strengthen our policies and expand our outreach efforts, ensuring that this work can be done safely and that a tragedy like this never happens again," Dickens said. Partners for HOME, a Department of Housing and Urban Development program, said the encampment had prior notice before city officials began to clear it. "Closing encampments is a dynamic and collaborative process that prioritizes 90 days+ of extensive outreach leading up to the closure to connect unsheltered individuals with housing, resources and support services before any site is cleared," Cathryn Vassell, the CEO for Partners for HOME, said in a statement reported by FOX 5. Squatter Crisis Hits Atlanta As Property Owners See Homes Morph Into Drug And Prostitution Dens Anthony Richardson, who lived at the same homeless encampment where Taylor was killed, confirmed to the local station that city crews announced plans to clear away tents but said the victim likely did not hear the announcement at that time. "We could hear him snoring," Richardson said to FOX 5. "My tent was right behind his, that could've been me if I didn't leave," he continued. Atlanta is facing some of the worst homeless crises in the nation. While homelessness within the city limits has overall decreased in the last decade, the 2024 Partners for HOME point-in-time count report recorded a 7% increase since 2023 to nearly 2,900 article source: Blue city looks to halt homeless encampment sweeps after city truck crushes sleeping man
