As one of the partners in Atlanta’s Contiuum of Care, Hope Atlanta has been honored to share the mantle of ending homelessness with the City of Atlanta and other organizations city-wide. Through this partnership initiatives such as Lift 1.0, Lift 2.0, and the latest, Atlanta/Downtown Rising, have been able to successfully house and rehouse thousands of our unhoused neighbors.
Chatiqua Ellison serves as the City of Atlanta’s Deputy Chief Housing Officer and Senior Advisor on Homelessness to Mayor Andre Dickens. In this interview, Hope Atlanta’s Director of Marketing and Communications spoke with Chatiqua about sustaining the momentum and progress made through Atlanta/Downtown Rising beyond the World Cup.
Q: Downtown Rising aimed to eliminate homelessness in downtown Atlanta ahead of the 2026 World Cup. How will the city sustain these efforts once the international spotlight fades?
A: The success of Downtown Rising showed us what is possible when the city, service providers, businesses, and community partners operate as one coordinated system. While FIFA has certainly accelerated collaboration and urgency, it is important to emphasize that Atlanta was already making significant investments and progress in addressing homelessness before the international spotlight arrived. What this moment has done is strengthen our coordination, improve communication, and create a more unified response that we believe will have lasting impact well beyond 2026.
Q: Talk to us a little about the collaborative effort with Downtown Rising and the importance of community partners sharing the responsibility of eliminating homelessness.
A: As Mayor Andre Dickens often says, “Atlanta is a group project,” and that philosophy has been central to the success of Downtown Rising. Addressing homelessness requires a shared commitment across government, nonprofits, businesses, public safety, faith communities, and service providers. No single entity can solve this challenge alone.
Downtown Rising brought together an unprecedented level of coordination among downtown businesses, local stakeholders, supportive service organizations, nonprofits, faith-based organizations, the Atlanta Police Department, and outreach teams working directly with individuals experiencing homelessness. Through Hope Atlanta, dedicated outreach workers engaged individuals sleeping outdoors to connect them with shelter, supportive services, healthcare resources, and pathways to permanent housing.
Those outreach efforts were also coordinated alongside the Atlanta Police Department’s H.O.P.E Team to ensure responses remained compassionate, trauma-informed, and centered on connecting individuals to care and stability rather than simply displacement.
The initiative reinforced that long-term progress happens when every sector takes ownership of the issue and works toward a unified goal. FIFA has helped strengthen that alignment, but the foundation of collaboration already existed in Atlanta and will continue long after the tournament concludes.
- 48 days to housing in Downtown Rising vs. 108 days system-wide
- 490 people housed through Downtown Rising May 2025 through May 2026
Q: How is the city ensuring the success of outreach workers and making sure housing-based locations, such as Melody and Waterworks, remain safe and well-maintained communities long-term?
A: Long-term success requires more than simply providing housing. It requires creating stable, supportive communities where residents can thrive and surrounding neighborhoods feel engaged and connected in the process.
At properties like Melody and Waterworks, the city and its partners have intentionally combined housing with strong supportive services, professional property management, and robust safety measures. Residents and community members have direct access to onsite staff and supportive service teams to address concerns quickly, strengthen communication, and foster positive community relationships.
These sites also include enhanced security measures, including 24-hour security personnel, modern surveillance systems connected to the Atlanta Police Department’s camera network, and ongoing coordination with local zone leadership and onsite staff. Equally important, residents have access to licensed social workers, certified peer specialists, case managers, and dedicated property management teams who work together to support long-term housing stability.
We have already seen positive outcomes from this model at Melody, and it reinforces what we know to be true: when supportive housing is paired with strong operational oversight, wraparound services, and community partnership, it can create safe, stable, and successful environments for everyone involved.
Q: What challenges does Atlanta still have to tackle to eliminate homelessness city-wide?
A: One of the greatest challenges continues to be sustainable funding. Unlike some jurisdictions, the City of Atlanta does not have a dedicated funding source specifically tied to housing and homelessness services, which can limit the scale and speed of long-term solutions.
Despite that challenge, the city has made historic investments in addressing homelessness. Under Mayor Andre Dickens’ leadership, Atlanta committed $60 million through the Homelessness Opportunity Bond, the largest investment of its kind in the city’s history, to support housing development and homelessness response efforts. Over the past two years, more than 1,000 housing units have been developed or advanced as part of that broader strategy.
At the same time, Atlanta continues to experience increased demand as individuals from across Georgia and the country come to the city seeking opportunity, services, and support. Data gathered through the annual Point-in-Time Count and winter warming centers has shown a noticeable rise in the number of individuals entering the system, placing additional pressure on shelter capacity, outreach teams, and supportive services.
There are also ongoing concerns around uncertainty in federal funding, particularly related to housing vouchers and support for Continuum of Care partners like Partners for HOME.
Even with those challenges, Atlanta remains committed to a housing-first approach focused on moving individuals into stable housing as quickly as possible while continuing to strengthen prevention, outreach, and supportive service systems. This work requires sustained partnership across the public, nonprofit, philanthropic, and private sectors, and we are grateful to have a community that continues to step up in meaningful ways to support our unhoused neighbors.
About Hope Atlanta:
Hope Atlanta is proud to partner with the City of Atlanta and other Continuum of Care partners to support our unhoused neighbors. Hope Atlanta’s mission is to prevent and end homelessness by empowering clients to achieve stability and self-sufficiency. Learn more about the impact of our work and how you can support here.
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