Atlanta mayor stresses homeless support through program partnerships

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is calling attention to homeless assistance efforts after City Council passed her request for a $4.3 million contract extension with the nonprofit overseeing Atlanta’s homelessness strategy.

Partners for HOME, Inc. will use the funding to provide rehousing services for people experiencing homelessness due to the coronavirus pandemic, according a news release Wednesday. Bottoms said in a statement that Atlanta will continue to expand efforts to help the homeless find transitional and permanent housing.

The contract extension, which has been on the council’s agenda since last week, took on new significance after the Atlanta Police Department arrested six protesters outside City Hall on Monday. Many of them were homeless people protesting on behalf of the ATL Homeless Union, which recently formed to demand better medical care, long-term housing, and access to water for the homeless.

Although Bottoms said in a statement that “caring for our unsheltered population is one of our top priorities,” residents protested in downtown Atlanta on Tuesday to criticize the city’s treatment of the homeless community.

According to the mayor’s office, Atlanta recently created 800 permanent housing apartments with $18 million in federal funding. Partners for Home used that funding to put nearly 700 people into permanent housing with wrap-around services during the pandemic.

The administration last year earmarked $3 million in emergency funding and “philanthropic contributions” for the homeless, according to the mayor’s office. The city and the United Way of Greater Atlanta also raised $50 million from the Homeless Opportunity Bond and private donations to provide 550 homes for the homeless in 2019.

United Way and the Bottoms administration also invested more than $42 million into housing strategies and supportive services to reduce homelessness in 2018.