The world’s most-watched sporting event has begun in Atlanta, and our city has spent years getting ready for this moment. Investments in transit, public spaces, and streetscapes have transformed corridors across Atlanta. Visitors arriving from far and wide will see a city dressed for the moment. This is a generational opportunity, and as Atlantans, we are proud to see our city shine on the world stage.
There is a familiar rhythm to how American cities prepare for global moments like this one. Transit lines get upgraded. Stadiums get refreshed. Public spaces get cleaned, replanted, and repaired. While these investments leave tangible benefits long after the visitors go home, they are also, by their nature, episodic, arriving with the spotlight and fading once it moves on.
Atlanta has been here before. Thirty years ago, when the Olympics came to our city, we made similar investments in the visible work. Roads were widened. Venues were built. Neighborhoods were transformed. Imagine if that same level of commitment to community investment had outlasted the Olympics and for the last thirty years meaningful support found its way to the organizations doing the long, quiet work of moving families out of homelessness. Today’s conversations about shelter placement, housing affordability, healthcare access, and the treatment of encampments would look fundamentally different.
We know that between 130 and 150 families are currently experiencing homelessness on any given night in our city. We know that when children grow up in stable homes, it replaces generational poverty with generational stability. We know that with sustained resources, the family homelessness rate, which climbed 14 percent in the most recent count, would be a fraction of that today.
We can’t rewind to 1996. We can learn from every experience and make investment choices that last.
Encouragingly, Atlanta’s recent investments in affordable housing, early childhood education, youth development, and efforts to address homelessness represent meaningful progress. Our House is proud to partner in that work. Building on these commitments and World Cup momentum will require sustained collaboration among government, businesses, philanthropy, and community organizations.
Reversing the cycles of homelessness takes time, which is why sustained, long-term commitments are crucial to realizing success. Our work requires a comprehensive approach that directly addresses multiple barriers standing between a family and stability simultaneously. When a family comes to Our House, they gain access to programs designed to address each of the social determinants of health that keep families in generational poverty: housing instability, lack of healthcare, limited childcare and early education, and barriers to steady employment. Our team listens to our clients’ challenges and develops customized solutions, which creates positive progress that cascades through all areas of their lives.
Mothers, fathers, and children stay together in our shelter because families are stronger when they avoid the trauma of separation. Beyond providing immediate housing stability, our shelter provides an environment where families can build the skills, savings, and independence required for long-term success. Our House Health closes the gap in healthcare access, offering free medical and mental healthcare for uninsured and low-income neighbors. Our Early Childhood Education program gives children from six weeks through age five the developmental support that research shows are among the strongest predictors of lifelong success. And because employment is one of the strongest drivers of stability, we continue our commitment to education in our Employment Training program which prepares parents for living-wage careers in high-demand fields where they have the opportunity to grow.
Many highly respected economists have reported that early investment in children has exponential benefits over the course of their adult life. Specifically, we can look to Nobel Laureate James Heckman who said that every dollar invested in quality early childhood education returns seven to thirteen dollars through higher earnings, better health, and reduced reliance on public systems. The children in our early childhood education program are building the foundation that will help them thrive and prevent them from requiring our services for their families in the future. Our work ripples forward through generations. Our work is transformative.
The investments our city is making for the World Cup in infrastructure are great, and we hope will pay dividends for many years, as do investments in the families who call this city home. Thank you, Atlanta leaders, for allocating care, attention and funding to the unhoused as part of the investment of hosting the World Cup. We ask that commitments be long term, robust, and genuine for the long haul for the good of our city. Help organizations like ours compound positive change quietly and continuously, family by family, generation by generation, whether anyone is watching or not. After all, a city that stays ready never has to get ready. We see a future for Atlanta that is both. A city that invites the world and a city that takes care of its people.
Our ask is not a unique one. Building the Atlanta we envision requires more than any single organization can do. We ask for this continued commitment on behalf of all of our partners doing the work of addressing the challenges of homelessness.
At a moment when Atlanta has so much momentum, we invite you, reader, to partner with us in this work. Whether through a gift, corporate sponsorship, volunteer day, or a conversation advocating for governmental support with your local leader, Our House welcomes your active engagement.
Thirty years from now, we hope the next generation of Atlantans will look back and see the World Cup as a moment when the city picked up where the Olympics left off, invested even more intentionally in people, and sustained that momentum for our citizens to address systemic, generational challenges that are solvable.
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