News & Events
The Stakes of Homelessness in Atlanta, and How We Start to Fix It.
Listen to the latest episodes of Unseen Atlanta:
Episode 212
I didn’t know how to live life any other way.
Episode 213
It was either sobriety or death.
Episode 214
I didn’t want to die, but I didn’t know how to live.
Episode 215
I thought I was going to die this way.
Episode 216
Slowly but surely, we build something better.
Episode 217
Collaboration is the only way forward.
Introduction
In these months on Unseen Atlanta, we see story after story of the pain, the desperation, and the fatality of homelessness, poverty, and addiction. These are not just nice-to-fix inconveniences. These are not just a thing to clean up so our streets look better. The stakes are hopelessness and death, so we must pay attention.
Poverty, homelessness, and addiction in Atlanta have a real death toll, and their effects ripple across our communities, weakening them and wounding all of us. The problem is real and growing. If we don’t do something about it, our situation is dire.
And yet, the story doesn’t end there. We are working in our city to build partnerships, structures, and communities, and ultimately, to change lives. The problem of homelessness feels insurmountable, but it’s not. And every day, we work – one small step, one partnership, one relationship at a time – to end it.
In 2024, We fed 232,474 meals to people that needed them. 467 adults and 104 kids exited our programs to stable housing. 222 individuals found stable employment after our services. And around 636 people each night had a roof over their head and a warm meal each night of the year.
We partner with programs and people like Good Samaritan Health Center, Hello Fresh, Atlanta Community Food Bank, and our local government to make sure we can reach as many people as possible in all the ways that they need help.
And we want to keep growing. We know that the problem is huge, but we believe that community is the way to solve it. Listen to our recent episodes to learn the individual stories of hurting and hope, and what we can all do, as the city of Atlanta, to build more happy endings together.
Key Insights & Local Context
Q: Why is homelessness in Atlanta more than just a housing issue?
Most of the time, chronic homelessness results from deeper issues like trauma and relational poverty. In episode 14, Johnny voices that “I really didn’t want to die, but I didn’t know how to live either.” This encapsulates the kind of hopelessness that wraps itself around a person. That’s why we focus on the transformation of the whole person, not just a house.
Q: Why is community such a powerful force in ending homelessness?
Research shows an association between housing retention and social support. As every story told these past two months shows, healing doesn’t happen alone.
And this is true on both an individual level and a city-wide one.
Q: Is the homelessness crisis in Atlanta actually getting worse?
Yes. According to the 2024 Point-in-Time Count, the number of people experiencing homelessness in Atlanta increased by about 7% from 2023, rising to about 2,867 individuals experiencing homelessness.
And many people, like Danny from Episode 12, are at the end of their rope. “I didn’t have any more resources,” he says, “I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”
Q: What role do partnerships play in solving homelessness in Atlanta?
As Breanna Lathrop says in episode 16, “You simply cannot do it alone. The problems are too large. We need one another.”
The problem touches our entire city, so our whole city should work to fix it. That’s why we partner with local churches, government, companies, and people to keep moving forward.
We strive to build a community for our clients, and for our city, united to end homelessness, poverty, and addiction – one person at a time.
Why It Matters for Atlanta
The problem feels huge and insurmountable. But it’s not. The answer, for individuals and for the collective, is community. We must all work together – from supporting the people in our own neighborhoods when times get tough, to investing our time, money, and energy into things that invest back into Atlanta.
Resources & Next Steps
- Listen: Ep 212: Danny, Ep 213: Mark Coffin, Ep 214: Johnny, Ep 215: Micah, Ep 216: Breanna Lathrop, Good Samaritan Health Center, Ep 217: Bruce Deel, City of Refuge
- Invest in Atlanta: Donate to Atlanta Mission
- Connect with us: Follow us on Instagram, Linkedin, or Facebook to learn more about what we do and who we partner with to do it.
- Learn more about the connection between homelessness and community support in this article in the National Library of Medicine.
