The Drake House, a Roswell nonprofit offering a housing program for single mothers in crisis, is calling on North Fulton leaders to figure out a solution to the lack of affordable housing for working families.
On Oct. 21, the organization and HouseATL are co-hosting a conversation with journalist Brian Goldstone, whose recent book “There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America” explores the plight of families pushed into homelessness by rising housing costs.
In a statement on The Drake House website, the nonprofit is urging city leaders to attend the event, which will be held at Mimms Museum of Technology and Art. The organization also details its work relocating families from the Economy Hotel, which the city of Roswell shut down last May.
The Drake House says it raised nearly $80,000 in the community in support of the relocation effort, and received $25,000 from the city. But, despite the response, only one hotel in North Fulton agreed to accept families displaced from the Economy Hotel.
“This is the truth: North Fulton does not currently have a place for the working class,” the nonprofit wrote in the report titled, Still No Place for Us. “Housing is not just a market issue. It’s a moral issue, a community issue and a public good.”
Roswell permanently closed the Economy Hotel due to dangerous and unsafe living conditions and a string of violent crime.
Rusted stairwells, exposed electrical wiring near showers and play areas and an inoperable elevator boarded up with plywood were some of the conditions in which families and children were living. The Drake House stepped in to help relocate residents, including 159 adults, 50 children and 46 animals. Several residents were elderly or in wheelchairs.
Separately, last March, police arrested six men at the property on charges of human trafficking, statutory rape and child exploitation.
Families were not living there by choice, The Drake House said in the case study statement.
“They were daycare teachers, restaurant staff, store clerks; the very workers who power our local economy, many of them full-time employees who simply couldn’t afford traditional housing options,” the report reads.
According to The Drake House, 41 percent of students in Fulton County attend schools in North Fulton.
Echoing The Drake House concerns, Courtney Rozear — a citizen speaking during an open forum at the Roswell city council meeting on Monday — urged city officials to attend the Goldstone event, and to confront the issue with compassion. She said members of her own family had lived on the edge of homelessness, and that the city must take a broader view of its housing challenges.
‘Misperception’ on Roswell affordable housing
Mayor Kurt Wilson and council members acknowledged the scope of the problem but described it as a challenge that at times feels insurmountable.
The Roswell Housing Authority is currently overseeing the redevelopment of Pelfrey Pines, a low-income housing complex. Elderly residents, including some who lived at the public housing property for as long as 20 years, were relocated for the reconstruction but will have the opportunity to return when the project is complete, officials have said.
During Monday’s forum, Councilwoman Lee Hills said she cares about affordable housing but emphasized her focus is on Roswell residents, not the broader metro region.
“We have taken a very bold approach to affordable housing in the city of Roswell,” she said. “…We are a municipality bailing out a failing federal program across the nation, and we’re doing our part … We do take it seriously. We are concerned about our residents.”
Hills said, Roswell cannot be the answer for everyone across North Fulton seeking a solution to the housing crisis.
“I have no intention of building millions of apartments here and welcoming everybody in, from [everywhere] else,” she added.
Councilwoman Sarah Beeson shared that her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother lived in public housing and that the issue is personal to her. She said that Roswell often struggles to receive financial support from Fulton County, in part because of a misperception that homelessness is not a problem within the city’s limits.
“We do have an unhoused population, and we do not have county tax dollars or assistance often coming into Roswell, because we’re overlooked,” she said. “Roswell as a city does not have the funds nor the ability to have social services at that level. That’s not to say that we don’t try.”
Mayor Kurt Wilson added his own personal connection, saying his grandmother was chronically homeless. He stressed that his administration inherited a neglected Roswell Housing Authority when he took office in 2022.
“[It was a Housing] Authority that was in financial disrepair, did not have a plan and had no relationship with the city that created it,” Wilson said.
Officials realized the Pelfrey Pines apartments were so unstable that they could collapse at any time, he added. And while his administration was criticized for condemning the structure, Wilson believes the city has done an “amazing job” without burdening taxpayers.
The rebuilt complex, he said, will provide a safe solution for about 100 residents. But one building does not solve the wider challenge of affordable housing in North Fulton.
In the statement on housing and the Economy Hotel evacuation, the Drake House said that even with accomplishments and “heroic” efforts, the community must go further.
“…Good intentions are no substitute for structural solutions,” the statement said.
What’s going to happen is these folks, the ones of sound mind, will move away. Maybe to Florida, Savannah, etc.
Atlanta as a metro doesn’t work at high costs and that’s in part why it’s so lost and has taken to delusions and nonsense about its future.
One person at a time can make a difference. Our family adopted someone who was homeless and assisted him in a number of ways. He now is holding down not one, but 2 jobs, has a bike for transportation and is finally getting back on his feet. We can solve this problem while maintaining people’s dignity as long as we understand that this is how to change things.