Fifteen months into being CEO of SoDo Atlanta, LLC, the holding company that owns 57 historic buildings, 10 city blocks, and 16 acres of Atlanta’s downtown core, I get asked the same question numerous times a week: “what is the biggest challenge holding our downtown back?”
My first answer is “homelessness?” But then I ask each individual: “when I respond with that word, what comes to mind?”
Folks come back with a variation of “people sleeping in tents” or “holding up a sign asking for money” at stop lights.
Over the past 15 months, we’ve seen that and more just on Broad Street including men smoking crack at 10:00 a.m. in the morning, drunk individuals littering those plastic, alcohol-filled bottles before defecating on sidewalks, prostitution, naked individuals needing a blanket to cover themselves, and much more.
We’ve done our best trying to help these individuals. Led by Brianna Jackson, CEO of the newly announced non-profit Heart of South Downtown. Her courage in engaging with several mentally ill and vulnerable individuals is inspiring. She and the team have reunited four unhoused individuals so far and provided food, shelter, and connectivity to their pharmacy for medication or other non-profits who specialize in specific services. It became apparent quickly, these individuals were more than homeless.
We’ve had to get crystal clear about the nomenclature when discussing this subset of downtown Atlanta’s population and the best term we’ve come up with is: “crisis population.” The crisis population also happens to be homeless but they are not housing ready. The crisis population is often services-resistant. You could build a brand new house and they wouldn’t live in it. No shelter, hotel, or housing would be sufficient to meet their current needs. This is the 1% of the homeless population that are often the most visible in downtown. They are the crisis population who also happen to be homeless but not housing ready.
The other 99% of the homeless population are ironically not the ones holding signs or living in tents. They are couch surfing with friends or family. They are living in their cars or shelters. They could easily devolve to the crisis population if there is not ample affordable housing. This is why it makes sense that Partners For Home, Atlanta’s leading organization on homelessness, focuses the vast amount of resources into permanent housing. It is undoubtedly the best way to fight homelessness…for the 99%.
I write this from a very biased, downtown-focused perspective. What about the 1% of the homeless population who are also the crisis population?
There is one question I ask that demonstrates the nebulousness of the term “homelessness.” We’ve met with at least 15 different well-intentioned, admirable organizations seeking to solve homelessness. A few significant names include Mercy Cares, First Step Staffing, Safe House Outreach, Partners For Home, Operation Hope Atlanta, City of Refuge, and more.
The one, same question when asked to each group is simple: “how many homeless people are in Atlanta?” Every organization has a different answer. I’ve heard 800 at the lowest, all the way up to 36,000 which was the number of requests the City of Refuge received last year for their services.
Experts will point to the PIT (Point In Time) count. One night in January, once a year, volunteers traverse Atlanta including our downtown to physically count how many unhoused individuals reside in our city. This exercise occurs across the country. If you look at Fulton County’s PIT count for 2024, the number is 339 people. If you look at Partners for Home’s PIT count across 243 neighborhoods in Atlanta, the number is 2,867 people. Considering 90% of Atlanta is in Fulton County and the rest in Dekalb, these numbers tell one of two things 1) the less probable – Atlanta’s portion of Dekalb is filled with 88% of the city’s homelessness population 2) the PIT count is not down to a science…which each report caveats.
Update: we learned that the PIT count in Fulton County and Dekalb County EXCLUDE City of Atlanta Property.
Another random data point is that SafeHouse Outreach feeds approximately 250-400 people a night Monday through Friday in downtown Atlanta off Ellis Street.
The true number of the crisis population who are also homeless in downtown Atlanta is approximately 1,500 people. This is a rough guess based on daily servings, staffing requests, occupied beds at different shelters, first hand observation of homeless encampments, and PIT counts.
How many people are homeless in Metro Atlanta? In 2023, over 175,000 people applied for 13,000 housing vouchers.
This is why building 10,000 or even 20,000 more affordable housing units barely makes a dent in the demand. Everyone of those affordable housing units requires Partners for Home and HUD mandated housing vouchers.
Those 175,000 people are individuals who are opting in for housing help. This is not the crisis population who choose to live on the street.
What are some answers to help the deeply complex problem of solving homelessness?
The first step is to gain crystal clarity around the vocabulary. The needs of the individual in a tent on MLK and Central are vastly different than the individual who lost their job and is now staying on their friend’s couch. We should acknowledge that through nomenclature. Our best guess is Crisis Population for the former.
The second step is to meet each person where they are right now. The Crisis Population needs supportive services who first build trust. This takes months. After trust is built, additional supportive services are paramount for the Crisis Population. The need for case workers, documentation in a centralized database, and consistent outreach all encompass the dedicated and hard work needed. The Heart of South Downtown, their board, and members of the South Downtown team are here to connect the best organizations who provide the critical support services. Over 200 organizations are focused on homelessness. Some are amazing. Some are mediocre. A small few are detrimental and enabling.
After trust is built and a relationship formed, we can then begin to suggest temporary housing as a next step. I am not sure of Atlanta’s current temporary housing portfolio. We met with the CEO of Pallet Homes and were impressed with their experiences and success stories.
For the 99% of homelessness that are not the Crisis Population who want services and help, affordable housing is the answer. This is why Partners for Home has put the majority of their focus on their Housing First initiative and does good work at it.
If Atlanta’s downtown is going to serve our most in need, we must first have a sincere conversation on the different types of homelessness and begin matching their needs to the best of best providers.