The Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless paid its nearly $600,000 water bill on Friday, days before the city was scheduled to cut off water to its Peachtree-Pine homeless shelter.
Anita Beaty, head of the Task Force, was flanked by several supporters as she paid the debt inside Atlanta City Hall. Beaty said she raised the money this week from private donors who have pledged ongoing support for future water bills.
“We don’t want to overwhelm you, but we’re very happy,” Beaty said to the cashier receiving the checks as supporters cheered.
The Task Force received notice in August that it had one month to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in past water debt. The organization was among nearly 1,000 delinquent commercial accounts the city ordered to pay up, or go dry. Cutoffs to some of those businesses began this week, according to officials with Mayor Kasim Reed’s administration.
Though the city previously said commercial clients could avoid cut-off if they developed a payment plan, the city rejected a $100,000 payment from Beaty last week, saying it was inadequate after several years of non-payment. The Peachtree-Pine shelter was slated to have its water turned off sometime next week.
The mayor’s office said the Task Force was not eligible for the partial payment option because it had yet to comply with a previous court order over water debt.
But Beaty and Task Force attorney Steve Hall think politics is at play. The Task Force has been engaged in a protracted legal battle with politicians, business and civic leaders during the past several years. In a lawsuit still under consideration in Fulton Superior Court, the Task Force claims that its opponents conspired to choke off charitable funding to the organization in an effort to shut it down.
But members of Reed’s administration say the shelter wasn’t singled out, but is part of a larger effort to crack down on delinquent accounts. According to the city, the Task Force hasn’t paid its bill in several years and until now had not complied with a court order to pay past debts.
Melissa Mullinax, Reed’s senior adviser, congratulated Beaty and Hall in an awkward exchange moments after the bill was paid.
“I think it’s terrific they paid their bill, over a half million dollars that taxpayers have subsidized,” Mullinax said, later adding: “Anita said miracles happen every day and I’m glad they got one.”
Mullinax said the prospect of turning off water to Peachtree-Pine prompted the city to reach out to the United Way and the Regional Commission on Homelessness to prepare for the potential displacement of hundreds of residents. According to a letter Reed sent to United Way in early August, city leaders did not anticipate that the Task Force would be able to pay its behemoth debt.
Peachtree-Pine, designed as an emergency shelter for those with few other options, typically houses between 500 and 600 people a night. In cold weather, that number can swell to more than 1,000. The shelter began housing women and children last year due to rising need, said Paul Ballew, a former Peachtree-Pine resident who now manages its hot line.
City leaders plan to revive the former Springdale Place, a facility that Fulton County opened in 2012, only to close it earlier this year, citing a lack of funding.
Fulton is leasing the property to the city, which has contracted with a homelessness service provider to operate the shelter, Mullinax said. The city and commission are also in talks with local churches to open a new center, she said.
The Atlanta Housing Authority is providing permanent housing vouchers, which will help alleviate crowding in certain shelters. And the state is providing money for mental health screening which could allow some to receive treatment in a hospital setting, Mullinax said.
Reed’s administration recently hired two people with previous experience in homelessness and humanitarian aid work to determine long-term solutions.
“The eruption of this Peachtree-Pine shelter has allowed these resources to be marshalled in a way they haven’t been for a long time,” Deputy Chief Operating Officer Kristin Wilson said.
In an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution earlier this week, Jack Hardin, co-chair of the Regional Commission, said the potential water cut-off to Peachtree-Pine has mobilized the larger service provider community.
“I think an important part of the story is that we are faced with an exigent situation and the entire homeless provider community has raised its hand and said: ‘How can I help?’” he said. “They’re all coming together and offering resources, their space and services and ideas.”
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