Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, Councilmember Jason Dozier, Fulton County Commissioner Mo Ivory, and Partners for Home gathered on a cold, windy Thursday, January 15, for a press conference and hard-hat tour of a new rapid-housing site at 405 Cooper St.
This rapid-housing site for unhoused residents of Fulton County will provide 100 units of supportive housing and 70 townhomes in the heart of the Mechanicsville community. The city and partners broke ground on the site just months ago and invited media partners for a sneak peek of the development progress.
Atlanta is home to over a quarter of the state’s homeless population of nearly 10,000, according to Atlanta Mission. According to Partners for Home, the 2025 Point-In-Time (PIT) Count, conducted the night of January 27 and followed by additional surveying the week following, recorded a 1% overall increase from 2024, suggesting a potential plateau.
Chronic homelessness fell 9% due to an ongoing focus on rehousing the most vulnerable individuals in permanent supportive housing (PSH), a housing intervention that pairs long-term leasing/rental aid with supportive services like mental health services, employment help, and ongoing case management.
During the press conference, Dickens discussed the rising issue of homelessness in the U.S., emphasizing that it has surpassed crime as a primary concern for mayors, including in Atlanta. He also highlighted visible encampments and the city’s multifaceted approach to addressing the problem, involving government, philanthropy, nonprofits, and innovative construction techniques.
“Seeing a growth and a climb in people experiencing homelessness, the unsheltered population across this country is rising,” he said. “I can’t tell you how many mayors that I talked to across the country that no longer is crime our number one concern and thing that we are most pressed about, but at this point in time, it is the growth of people that are having more money than money people that are unhoused in our communities across the country and Atlanta is no different.”
Additionally, Dickens mentioned the city’s commitment of $60 million to a homelessness opportunity bond, the highest in Atlanta’s history, which has helped house thousands over four years. He underscored the city’s determination to tackle homelessness collaboratively, with the city going first or last but never alone, and acknowledged the presence of key stakeholders in the effort.
“We’re trying to attack this problem with the help of community members and great-minded folks in the nonprofit business sector, etc. And this work is meaningful. We’ve been doing it for a long time,” he said. “My administration has been doing a whole lot of work, but there’s still more work to be done.”
Ivory emphasized the need for permanent supportive housing to address Fulton County’s homelessness crisis. She highlighted that Fulton County currently supports 302 supportive housing units but requires 550, with funding only secured through 2026. Ivory said fully funding supportive housing is cost-effective, reduces repeat jail bookings, and helps public safety.
When housing is missing, she said, those systems become the default response. Ivory also urges her colleagues to honor the commitment to helping their residents.
“I have told my colleagues to honor that commitment, and I hope that when we get to our meeting next Wednesday, when we vote on this budget, that they will do that,” she said. “They have not done that thus far. Fulton County should be a partner to its cities, not a hindrance to the vital services that its cities need. I fully support funding permanent housing services now and into the future beyond the 10 years that we committed to, but especially right now.”
Also, Dozier reflected on the importance of the work that’s been doing and how he experienced homelessness at an early age. Sharing in one of his earlier groundbreakings, he grew up in Atlanta, where his home of 16 years and the only home his mom ever owned was lost to foreclosure.
“We had all our things thrown out into the street and as a someone who was in my early 20s, I know what it was like to experience fear, to experience instability, to not know what roof was going to be over my head, where I was going to sleep, and I had to rely on the generosity of friends and family members and neighbors sleeping on couches on cold days like to this turn on the oven to keep the house warm,” he said.
Dickens stressed the commitment of Fulton County Commission members and city council to distribute $4.8 million annually for 30 years to address homelessness, a small portion of their budget.
He also criticized some commissioners for attempting to pull back on this promise.
“We must be honest about some of the people who are supposed to be in this with us, and that is members of the Fulton County Commission, and we have one [Mo Ivory], who is here to support our efforts and the people that are in need,” he said.
Dickens also praised Governor Kemp for stepping up, saying he would pull $50 million towards housing the homeless and helping with wraparound services for urban areas like the city of Atlanta.
“That’s meaningful steps up towards helping us, so we need the county to do just what they said they were going to do and what their charter is for them to do, which is to help with the Health and Human Services,” he said. “Do what you say you’re gonna do, and for the next 30 years, you’re supposed to put up at a minimum $4.8 million. You can’t walk back from that.”
Furthermore, Dickens said they must have a partnership from the county to pay for the operations.
“That’s the agreement, and we must keep them to their promises, promises made must be promises kept, or see you at the ballot,” he said.
The rapid housing units at 405 Cooper St., will be finished in the next two months, according to developers.