Homelessness isn’t just a humanitarian issue; it’s an economic one. When people lose housing, businesses lose employees, healthcare costs rise, and public services are strained. The cost of inaction is high, but investing in housing strengthens Atlanta’s economy.
At Hope Atlanta, we see this firsthand every day. It’s the father working two jobs who still cannot afford rent. It’s the young mother couch-surfing with her children because there are no shelter beds available. It’s the elderly woman choosing between paying for medication or keeping a roof over her head.
George Jackson knows this struggle personally. After suffering five strokes, he lost everything. When the hospital discharged him, he had nowhere to go. “I couldn’t take care of myself, and I had nowhere to go,” he said. “Without Hope Atlanta, I don’t know where I’d be.”
For 125 years, Hope Atlanta has been a safety net for people like George. At Hope Atlanta, nearly 2,000 individuals and families rely on our services every month. Without critical housing funds, like those provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), essential programs and support services are at risk, leaving even more families, veterans, and seniors without a path to stability.
The Cost of Doing Nothing
The housing crisis in Atlanta is not a future problem. It is happening now. Homelessness affects workforce stability, healthcare costs, public safety, and local economies. When people lose stable housing, they also lose access to employment, education, and healthcare, creating a cycle of crisis that strains public resources and private industry.
Without funding, housing assistance programs, outreach services, and emergency support are in jeopardy. The impact will be felt across the city:
- More children experiencing homelessness, disrupting education and future workforce potential.
- More seniors losing their homes, increasing hospital visits and emergency service costs.
- More veterans left without mental health support and housing, deepening social instability.
A stable workforce, strong local economy, and safe communities depend on housing security. Atlanta cannot afford to ignore this crisis.
Why Atlanta’s Leaders Must Take Action
The Housing First model works. Stable housing is the foundation for workforce readiness, better health outcomes, and lower social service costs. But to keep people housed, we need consistent investment and collaboration.
A Housing First program in Seattle demonstrated the power of stable housing by saving $4 million in just one year, cutting costs by $2,500 per person each month. Investing in housing not only creates long-term stability but also eases the strain on public resources. Here in Atlanta, our Mayor has taken great strides in introducing innovative solutions and investments to support our unhoused population.
These efforts are essential, but lasting change requires community-wide commitment.
Business, government, and nonprofit leaders must come together to:
- Support workforce stability by keeping employees and families housed.
- Reduce strain on emergency services by preventing homelessness before it starts.
- Strengthen Atlanta’s future by ensuring children in crisis can stay in school.
How a Difference Can Be Made Now
Addressing homelessness requires a collaborative effort. Business leaders, policymakers, and community organizations all have a role in ensuring that Atlanta remains a city where people can live, work, and thrive.
- Invest in sustainable funding to keep families housed and prevent crisis before it starts.
- Advocate for policies that protect affordable housing and create pathways to stability.
- Partner with nonprofits like Hope Atlanta and other partners in the Continuum of Care to expand access to housing and wraparound support services.
Hope Atlanta is committed to fighting homelessness, but we cannot do this work alone. Together, we can build a stronger, more stable future for our city.
Now is the time to act. Investing in housing strengthens Atlanta’s economy and the well-being of its people.
You should mention, Seattle still spends $37,500 per person on that program.
In 2015 I secured my first position with one of Washington state’s largest nonprofits in Seattle. During my interview I was asked if I could explain harm reduction. My answer, which I called a friend ahead of time to inquire, was “meeting the person where they are at.” I didn’t really understand the concept at first, but quickly realized after accepting the job in that “housing first” building, that harm was not being reduced in this setting.
Housing First, on its face, seems like a rational policy and approach. Making sure everyone has a roof over their heads regardless of their circumstances. No expectation of being clean and sober, just honoring a person’s humanity. It was a perspective I thought worthy of support. It is commonly said that supplying housing encourages “the newly housed” to practice safer behavior enabling recovery.
Living as a recovering, abstinence-based person, and personally knowing some of the women housed in this building I accepted employment with, showed me the destructiveness of the policy.
I maintained employment with this agency for nearly five years and became very familiar with the horrors behind the policy known as housing first. Needless to say, as the harm reduction policy began revealing itself to me in this new role, I started to recognize the roots of problems with the housing first model.
Housing First does provide shelter, but it also imprisons vulnerable adults in the same space as predators. There is no requirement for self improvement and staff enable continued destructive behavior. People in these environments use drugs, overdose and die, commit prostitution and practice a tremendous amount of illegal behavior comparable to the streets, with impunity. It is an extension of the harm reduction model that encourages self-destruction and is protected because it happens behind closed doors.
Once a person enters a low income, housing first building there is no support to improve their quality of life or move on from this kind of environment, regardless of age or circumstance. Capacity equals funding, so these programs are incentivized to keep units full. These environments are often as dangerous as the streets.
Staff and residents are assaulted, residents preyed on, robbed, trafficked and more. In the five years I worked in the field, I know of maybe three clients out of hundreds who improved their quality of life and stopped using drugs, as a direct result of my support and encouragement. Everything a person needs to destroy themselves is provided inside these buildings, not just by other tenants. The percentage of people who successfully transition out of these environments is very low.
Again, the idea on its face seems like a good one. We in society see less of the growing mess than we did before each of these facilities opened, but the lives inside are being destroyed. When I first learned about housing first I remember wishing there was something similar available to me when I was on drugs. But after working in the environment a short time I was so grateful there wasn’t.
Housing first is not the answer to homelessness. Many people housed in these places are evicted and continue to live in the same manner they did on the streets. If we are to solve the homeless problem in our cities, we must be intentional in our approach. We must first focus on the underlying causes of an individual’s circumstances and equip people with the skills to take control of their lives.
A holistic, intentional approach addressing the contributing factors of a person’s circumstances is imperative. We must change the definition of harm reduction by meeting individual deficits, discovered through in-depth assessment, with the necessary education and training to enable independence. As it stands today, we are monetizing life support for those suffering on the streets while enabling the victimization of citizens in society.
The Union Gospel Mission Recovery Program is an example of a program currently attacking these problems holistically. When you come into a facility such as the Hope Place, you are assessed, given a urine analysis, provided a room if you are free from drugs, and then you begin addressing the underlying causes of your situation through a therapeutic, faith-based approach. The program is 18 months in total with education and housing support attached. We have to be intentional in our approach.