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Where is the money for the homeless going in Atlanta?
The city of Atlanta spends $2,000 a month on placing each homeless family into an apartment. That money comes from a combination of government funds and philanthropy. But some Atlanta City Council members and residents still see homeless encampments popping up all over town and want to know where the payoff for the millions invested in shelter programs is.
ATLANTA - Atlanta City Council members received an update on what Cathryn Vassell calls a comprehensive approach to tackle the problem.
"What we need to do is move quicker to get people off the street and into housing," the chief executive officer of Partners for Home said to a council committee.
These efforts amount to a multi-million-dollar investment. Ten thousand individuals or families over a five-year period have been placed in some form of housing.
What is so frustrating to residents like Sharon Collins, who has a home near downtown, is the number of encampments that are popping up all over town.
The advocacy agency listed a dozen major encampments that still need to be dismantled.
"Consider what is happening," Collins asked the council members, reflecting on the impact of the tent cities on stable residents.
The challenge for city officials is the more help they deliver, the more street people from around Georgia and other states flow into Atlanta.
The word spreads Atlanta tries to take care of homeless people.