| A new Trump administration directive could drastically increase Atlanta’s unsheltered population next year, putting nearly 600 formerly homeless households back on the street. |
| The White House plans to slash 70% of its grant funding for permanent supportive housing programs distributed through the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Continuum of Care program. That funding to rehouse people experiencing homelessness will instead go to short-term housing programs that impose work requirements and mandate drug and mental health treatment. |
| The cuts are expected to displace up to 170,000 formerly homeless people nationwide from federally subsidized housing, including an estimated 588 households in Atlanta, according to the city’s go-to homeless services coordinator, Partners for Home. Currently, 844 Atlanta households rely on the HUD Continuum of Care grants for housing and wraparound services. |
| Atlanta’s most recent HUD-mandated Point-in-Time count last January tallied 1,061 people living unsheltered. Local housing advocates say the massive cut to Continuum of Care grant funding will expand tent cities, increase panhandling, and further strain local jails and hospitals, which already serve as short-term shelter for people experiencing mental health and substance use crises. |
| “This is pretty much all bad,” said Cathryn Vassell, the CEO of Atlanta’s go-to homeless services nonprofit, Partners for Home. |
| Read our full report on the implications of the Trump directive here. |
