On the Mar 25th edition: Georgia students may soon be checked for weapons as they arrive at school each day; a Belgian pharmaceutical company is planning to build a $2 billion manufacturing plant in Gwinnett County; and state lawmakers are advancing a bill that would create a homelessness prevention program.
Homelessness is rising across Georgia, and lawmakers are debating new ways to address the crisis before people lose their housing. In this episode, Representative Casey Carpenter discusses a proposal to prevent homelessness by helping families stay in their homes. The conversation also explores a bill addressing whether song lyrics and other artistic expressions should be used as evidence in criminal trials.
Homeless service organizations in Georgia are unsure about what funding they will have to work with in the coming year because of changes in mission at the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development — changes currently being challenged in federal court.
Macon-Bibb County is the only municipality in Middle Georgia where homeless camping and sleeping in public is banned. But the ordinances actually have allowed for more outreach and support than arrests.
The moratorium will last as long as it takes for the Atlanta Continuum of Care to review and update sweep practices and share the results with the public.
Fulton’s annual Point In Time Count of all the unhoused people in the county has been postponed this year due to cold weather. It was scheduled to begin Wednesday.
Between 2022 and 2023, there was a 63% increase in the length of time people experienced homelessness in DeKalb County. A disproportionate number of those impacted are children and people of color.
Civil rights groups say new Georgia voting rules have made it too easy to challenge the eligibility of people living in nursing homes, college dormitories and military facilities, and will make it more difficult for homeless people to register to vote.
Extended-stay hotels are often a last resort for low-income families trying to avoid homelessness. But hotel living can lead to — or exacerbate — various physical and mental health issues for children, say advocates for families and researchers who study homelessness.
Working people living in motels are considered a "hidden homeless" population. An alliance of nonprofits are working to move 1,000 affected families in Atlanta to stable housing by next summer.
Atlanta City Council has unanimously approved a measure to begin counting unhoused people in the summer every other year starting in 2025 to get better data.
Officials in Atlanta and Denver believe that micro communities, unlike shelters, offer residents stability that, when combined with wraparound services, can more effectively put them on the path to secure housing.
