Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, Partners for HOME CEO Cathryn Vassell, Georgia State University President Dr. M. Brian Blake, Frank Fernandez of Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta, and members of the Atlanta City Council gathered on the corner of Peachtree Street near Woodruff Park for the special announcement.
The park, a regular stop for the city’s homeless and unhoused, alike, was surrounded by Atlanta Police and people in suits and casual dress. New York City native and Atlanta resident Demetrius Overton wondered if it all meant anything at all.
“You don’t see a lot of these people around here any other time,” Overton, 38, said. “They preach that good song, but does anyone here it.”
The Mayor was first to speak and announced a major investment in the effort to combat what remains a major issue in Atlanta: homelessness. A public-private investment of some $120 million will go towards building hundreds of units for the city’s homeless.
“This is something that the city must take the lead on,” Dickens said during his remarks. He added that this would be the single largest investment in homelessness in the city’s history.
Dickens said this investment wouldn’t just be for units, similar to what was created with The Melody project last year, for short-term fixes. It would be for the long haul.
“We are here today to talk about something we all see and that we all are touched about,” Dickens said.
The details of the million-dollar investment include multiple projects, according to renderings that were set up near where the Mayor and others spoke. There are also plans to continue raising money for further investment, according to Vassell.
“We must move like we have never moved before,” said Vassell, who said Partners for HOME have “rehoused” thousands of families over the past couple of years.
“This is a crisis in our country and until we get a hold of it we will continue to see unhoused people coming into our community,” Vassell said.
The two projects, Waterworks and 405 Cooper Rapid Housing, will be located in underserved communities on the city’s Westside. Waterworks will consist of two buildings and 100 total units that are expected to break ground in the fall, according to Dickens. 405 Cooper, which will be located in Mechanicsville, will combine 70 for-sale townhomes with 100 units for the unhoused.
Fernandez, who said he saw people sleeping on the street on his walk over to Woodruff Park Tuesday morning, added, “This commitment says a lot about who we are as a city.”
The Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta contributed $10 million to Partners for HOME for this project. Partners for HOME, an Atlanta-based nonprofit organization that was started in 2015, aims to bring together government, nonprofit, business, and community stakeholders to make homelessness rare, brief, and nonrecurring, according to its website.
Vassell wants to raise another $43 million of private funds for the projects, but also added that this cannot just be a collaboration between these entities. Taking from the Mayor’s “Group project” slogan, Vassell said there needs to be investment from county, state, and behavioral health organizations as well.
“This investment is courageous, ambitious, and audacious,” she said.