Metro Atlanta gets $9 million to help families pay rent

By Christopher Quinn

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The heart of metro Atlanta is getting $9.7 million in federal government grants to help keep families from ending up homeless.

Atlanta will get $3.4 million; Cobb County, $1.3 million; DeKalb County, $2.3 million; Fulton County, $896,000; and Gwinnett County, $1.7 million.

Other grants will serve the rest of the state.

Tom Plamann, program director with the Georgia Coalition to End Homelessness, said the money is for the newly homeless or those teetering on the edge because of the recession.

The money will go to local governments, who will spend it through established service agencies, such as MUST Ministries in Cobb County.

“We are hoping most families can get back on their feet with three to six months of help,” Plamann said.

The money is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It can be used to pay rents or help with other costs, but cannot be spent on mortgages.

Katheryn Preston, the coalition’s executive director, said it is difficult to say how many families the money will help. Much will depend on variables such as the length of time they need help or family size. Many of those who will receive help are already lined up because the agencies have been working with them, she said.

The money was divided using a federal formula that included statistics such as foreclosure rates, she said.

Nick Autorina of Cobb County’s Community Block Development Grant office said the money will be committed within a month.

“As soon as we execute all the legal agreements, it’s game on,” he said.

It could not have come at a better time, said Leonard Westmoreland, the division manager with Fulton County’s Office of Emergency Transitional Housing.

“I’ve been doing this for 30 years,” he said. “Things are as bad as I ever remember them being.”

For a referral to local agencies: 1-877-243-1576.

For more information, go to www.hudhre.info/HPRP/ or gahomeless.org.