Heartless In Atlanta? New Hope For The Homeless

Eighteen months ago, Mayor Shirley Franklin assembled a dream team of business and community leaders and challenged the group to find a way to "end homelessness as we know it." The ambitious plan that resulted is being hailed as a blueprint for other cities to follow - but it's not without critics.

by Paige P. Parvin

March 1, 2005

E ighteen months ago Mayor Shirley Franklin assembled a dream team of business and community leaders and challenged the group to find a way to "end homelessness as we know it." The ambitious plan that resulted is being hailed as a blueprint for other cities to follow - but it's not without critics.

Carla Mitchell was pregnant with her second child and working at McDonald's when her sister brought newborn twins home to the inner-city apartment where Carla was living. Her sister, who had four children already, said the place was too small for all of them and Carla would have to go somewhere else, but on $6.25 an hour her options were limited. For the second time in her 21 years, Carla was faced with living on the street.

"Being on the street was hard," she says, "because you never knew when something was going to happen to you."
 
Carla is one of an estimated 12,000 to 16,000 people in Atlanta without a place to live, 46% of whom are thought to be women and children. The number of the city's homeless has been on the rise, leaders say, thanks in part to an uncertain economy, dwindling affordable housing, and an influx of homeless people from surrounding counties. Last year, Atlanta was named one of the five "meanest cities" for the homeless by the National Coalition for the Homeless.

But a recent, radical effort led by Mayor Shirley Franklin aims to reverse that trend. In 2002, Franklin announced her intention to "end homelessness as we know it in Atlanta," and tapped the United Way to help lead the charge. The mayor convened a 16-member Regional Commission on Homelessness, chaired by retired King & Spalding law partner Horace Sibley, to develop a plan. Seeking input from more than 60 organizations with a stake in the issue, the commission drafted a "blueprint" designed to wipe out chronic homelessness in a decade. More than half the metro area's 13 counties are represented on the commission - the first homeless initiative with such wide-spread regional involvement.

The effort also has been particularly noted for bridging public interest and private support, with more than $10 million raised so far -mostly from private, anonymous donors in Atlanta's business community.

"The business community support came because everybody in the community has begun to recognize that we have a real opportunity, perhaps a one-moment-in-time opportunity, to make a huge leap forward toward ending chronic homelessness," Sibley says. "We asked the private community if they would join a public-private partnership to try and achieve this goal. Their motives were the same as for all of us - to reach out to our neighbors."

The commission is comprised of a mix of business and civic leaders, including Paula Rosput Reynolds, chairman, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of AGL Resources; Laura Keenan, community development director for Bank of America; Fulton County Commissioners Nancy Boxill and chair Karen Handel; Atlanta City Councilmember Debi Starnes; DeKalb County Government Chief of Staff Ann Wead Kimbrough; and Department of Human Resources Commissioner Beverly Walker. It also has the backing of groups such as the Women's Legacy of United Way, some 3,000 women working to foster philanthropists and leaders.

"As a business owner, I care about the impact [of homelessness] on Atlanta's tax base, our ability to provide critical care services to those who need it most, and how long-term homelessness will influence public policy that could impact the companies doing business in Atlanta," says Women's Legacy chair Charlotte King, president and creative director of Snowden and King Marketing Communications.
 
Blueprint A National Model
This spring, the early fruits of the commission's work will blossom - most notably the Gateway Center, a resource center created to connect homeless people to a wide range of services through a central source. Twenty-six agencies devoted to the homeless will offer services through the Gateway Center, to be housed in a renovated, former downtown jail. The center will provide 300 temporary beds and address immediate needs, such as showers, bathrooms and food, but will not offer long-term shelter - a deliberate omission some have criticized as out of step with the needs of the city's homeless.

In her address to the city in January, Franklin held up the Gateway Center as an example of a successful public-private partnership: "I'm convinced that our fiscal discipline helped to make the funding of the Gateway by private citizens a reality."

The Gateway Center is one of seven major components that make up the blueprint. The 10-year plan, which will cost an estimated $40 million in public and private funds, is intended to tackle the issue from many angles, with a major focus on the prevention of homelessness for borderline families. The commission's work is part of an increased national focus on homelessness and is serving as a model for other cities, according to Sibley: "Now 170 cities have either adopted plans to end homelessness in 10 years or they are in the process."

The initiative comes at a critical time. According to Diane McCants, strategy director for the United Way of Metro Atlanta, calls from women and children to service hotlines such as the United Way's 211 have been increasing since early 2002. The number of women without homes in downtown Atlanta has risen by more than 200% since spring 2003. And many are coming from outside the city: In 2003, United Way received nearly 11,000 calls for emergency shelter, more than half from beyond I-285. Gwinnett County - long considered an affluent suburb but also home to the region's fastest growing immigrant population - may have more than 25,000 homeless people, according to the Gwinnett Coalition, with a need for more than 1,000 beds on any given night.

While there is no sure answer why, anecdotal evidence suggests people in the suburbs are more likely to lose their homes because of financial trouble - job instability and low pay, compounded by high housing costs - than mental illness or substance abuse.

"The fastest growing population among the homeless are women and children," Mayor Franklin says. "This public-private partnership is another excellent example of Atlantans coming together to offer support to those who need it most. This effort will help change the lives of some of our most vulnerable residents and that is what this community does best."

Fulton County Commissioner Nancy Boxill, who has been working to help the homeless for two decades, chairs the commission's Council on Women and Children - the only one of six sub-councils devoted to a particular segment of the homeless population. Homeless women with children have different needs than those of men, Boxill says, such as care for their children while they look for work and transportation for school-age kids.

"Fifteen or 20 years ago, the most important thing was to find these women housing," Boxill said. "Unfortunately, that's not enough anymore. These women do not have the skills to navigate today's Atlanta. That's not something you can collect in a drive and box up like an emergency housing kit."

Atlanta's largest shelter for women and children, the 100-bed Milton Avenue Shelter, is slated to close some time later this year. Despite efforts last year by the United Way and others to keep it open, the building is in need of some $1 million in repairs.

But the Women's Legacy of United Way hopes to relieve some of the loss through its Family Shelter Initiative. Launched in 2002, the initiative means to add 300 emergency and transitional shelter beds outside the city by 2006 - a much-debated move reportedly sparked by the high volume of emergency calls coming from surrounding areas.

"There have always been large numbers of homeless in downtown Atlanta because that's where the services are," Boxill says. "That does not mean the people using those beds always had homes in downtown Atlanta. It's a much smarter approach to have assistance dispersed so people are not uprooting themselves from their communities."

The Family Shelter Initiative also will work with the city and the Atlanta Women's Foundation to add some 100 beds within the city in direct response to the loss of the Milton Avenue shelter space. The group has raised $400,000 for the initiative so far.

With the number of shelter beds in question, some Atlanta veterans wonder whether the Regional Commission and related groups are approaching the problem in the right way. Anita Beaty, executive director of the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, says her organization serves between 500 and 1,000 people a day, and the available shelter beds are filled beyond capacity every night. She worries that the high-profile efforts to combat homelessness indicates more concern with cleaning up the streets than with helping people find the safety and long-term help they need.

"The commission's work seems to be counter to the need as we see it," Beaty says. "They have raised $10 million dollars, yet here we are losing shelter beds and they won't be replaced. They say that shelter beds are not the answer, but there is no answer without a bed."

But the plan's advocates say Mayor Franklin and the Regional Commission are creating a multi-faceted answer that is less reliant on temporary shelter beds and more focused on long-term solutions.

"Of course, there will always be a need for temporary, emergency housing," McCants says. "But we want to end homelessness as we know it - to have fewer people on the streets, and to have a system in place where we can immediately connect them with services so that people in that situation have the best possible chance to get out of it. This is a thoughtful approach that we hope will make Atlanta look like the compassionate, smart city it is."

---

THE BATTLE PLAN
 ¥ The Gateway Center, a 24-hour resource center to help connect homeless people with the services they need.
 ¥ Expansion of efforts to prevent homelessness, such as help with foreclosure and eviction.
 ¥ New transitional housing for men.
 ¥ Increased efforts to reunite at-risk people with their families and other support systems.
 ¥ The creation of 50 new units of permanent supportive housing for those with mental illness or substance abuse problems.
 ¥ The expansion of the Atlanta Community Court and alternatives to jail for the homeless.
 ¥ A "Shelter-A-Family" faith community initiative, which will match families in need with churches and mentor families.

---

Paige P. Parvin is a frequent contributor to Atlanta Woman.

---

Building A New Life
When Carla Mitchell had to leave her sister's apartment last fall, she found herself in a position most of us experience only in nightmares: she had a toddler to worry about, a new baby on the way, and nowhere to go. But a friend gave her the phone number of Genesis Shelter, the city's only temporary residence specifically dedicated to homeless families with newborn babies.

BreNita Jackson-Brown, executive director of Genesis Shelter, says homeless women with babies typically take about six to eight months to become self-sufficient. The goal is that when women like Carla Mitchell leave Genesis, they have a place to live, a job, and care for their children so they can keep working.

Genesis, which recently moved into new quarters that doubled the number of families served to eighteen, is one of 26 homeless agencies that will offer services through the Gateway Center.  - P.P.P.

Monique's Story
As I sat in the hotel room with my four children all I could do was cry. It was five days before Christmas. I had no money and no way of getting any, and I had just had another baby. I never dreamed when I got married I would wind up with no place to live. But after my husband burned down our home and shot himself in the head, that is exactly what I had become: a homeless single mother of four.

At the end of the week the pay on the room would expire, and I had no idea where I was going to go with a three-year-old, two-year-old, one-year-old, and a two-week-old. I had already called several shelters, and no one had room for a family of five.

The social worker at the hospital had mentioned a shelter called Genesis. I thought that I would never go to a shelter with my children, but at that point I had no choice. With trembling hands I dialed the number on the card. All I could think was, "Please, God, let them have a space for my children and me."

"Happy holidays and thank you for calling Genesis. How can I help you?" I asked the receptionist if they had room for a woman with four children. Ms. Brantley, Director of Social Services, picked up the line, and we talked for about 20 minutes. The next few words I heard probably saved my life. She told me that she would find a space for me and the kids.

We came to Genesis the next day, and I have been here since. Genesis was clean and warm, and the people were friendly. As I was escorted to my room, I noticed each room's name is an affirmation, and mine was Growth. The room reminded me of my room as a little girl. It was stocked with toys for the kids, a big bed for me and even a rocking chair for me to feed the baby in. Next, Ms. Pope came in carrying a bag full of items - baby toiletries, sheets, towels and even some clothes for the children. She explained that I would receive free room and board and anything else I could possibly need to get back on my feet.

"What's the catch?" I asked her.

"Nothing," she replied. "We just want to see you become independent again, and we will work together to help you do it."

Christmas was now two days away. Ms. Harris, the Volunteer Coordinator, was busy with all of the donations of toys and clothes. She and Ms. Jackson called families in one by one to pick up their gifts. They called my name and I stood in the hallway overwhelmed as bag after bag was given to me for my children. Toys and clothes overflowed. They even had a bag with my name on it.

The staff at Genesis comes everyday with the sole purpose of helping the families achieve their goals of self-reliance. For the families here that word truly means "New Beginnings." - Monique Johnson