Atlanta’s City Council recently approved $2 million in funding to be distributed through its Eviction Diversion Program to enable the local nonprofit Striving Together, Advancing Residents & Communities Corporation (Star-C) to continue helping residents access safe, stable housing. Since its inception in late 2023, the Eviction Diversion Program has allocated over $1.56 million and helped more than 220 families avoid displacement. The program focuses on aiding three at-risk groups: residents aged 65 and older, single-parent families with children in the Atlanta Public Schools system, and renters younger than 25 years old.
Atlanta’s Eviction Diversion Program provides up to $7,000 in rental assistance per household paid directly to landlords. Qualified tenants must be experiencing hardship, living in the City of Atlanta, and earning at or below 60% of the area median income (approximately $43,000 for a one-person household or $62,000 for a household of four).
The city’s protections against eviction come at a particularly important time, as the U.S. Supreme Court recently permitted cities to criminalize homelessness through its ruling in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson. Research shows that homelessness and incarceration are linked. A report by the Atlanta Community Support Project found that despite comprising only .4% of the city’s population, unhoused individuals accounted for 12.5% of arrested inmates at the city jail in 2022. Additionally, people of color are disproportionately affected by both homelessness and incarceration. According to the Atlanta Community Support Project’s study, 78% of those living on the street and known to law enforcement identified as Black. Prosecuting those living on the street only increases the difficulty they will face in finding employment and housing.
Eviction prevention through rental assistance can help individuals facing homelessness remain stably housed by aiming to resolve landlord-tenant conflicts before a landlord issues an eviction notice against a tenant. As Georgia law permits landlords to pursue eviction proceedings immediately after giving notice, missed payments or temporary income stability can leave low-income tenants in precarious positions. Aside from homelessness, evictions can also impact employment, mental and physical health, mortality rates from substance abuse, and access to healthcare.
Studies demonstrate that eviction diversion programs have been effective tools in preventing eviction filings, at least temporarily. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the national eviction moratorium helped prevent over 1.5 million evictions, while state and local eviction protections prevented an additional 900,000 eviction filings. A report by the Urban Institute, meanwhile, shows that financial assistance is an essential element of successful eviction diversion.
Evictions in Atlanta numbered over 144,000 in 2023, exceeding pre-pandemic averages in January, February, March, April, and August. The eviction program legislation notes that more than half of renters in the City of Atlanta spend over 30% of their income on housing costs. Extremely low-income renters are more impacted by housing instability, while also dedicating higher proportions of their incomes to rental payments. NLIHC’s Out of Reach report finds that to afford a two-bedroom apartment at Fair Market Rent without spending more than 30% of income on housing, households in Atlanta must earn an hourly wage of $35.46. Georgia’s minimum wage is $7.25, meaning that workers would have to work four jobs at the federal minimum wage - or 160 hours per week – to afford rent and utilities.
Meanwhile, NLIHC’s Gap report reveals that in Atlanta, only 25 out of every 100 rental units are affordable and available to extremely low-income households. At the same time, 81% of extremely low-income households experience severe cost burden, paying more than 50% of their income on rental expenses.
The measure to donate additional funding to the Eviction Diversion Program complements several efforts by Mayor Andre Dickens to support low-income and marginalized renters in the city, including $300 million in funding towards affordable housing, the most substantial investment in Atlanta’s history. This legislation was sponsored by Councilmember Andrea L. Boone, with support from Star-C, a collaborative nonprofit providing affordable housing assistance and running wellness, educational, and food security programs.
Through the mayor’s new housing initiatives, the city will also create a “Housing Help Center” focused on connecting residents within the city to affordable housing resources. The digital center will provide Atlantans with information on the variety of public, private, and non-profit rental housing resources available to ensure that renters are able to navigate the rental market effectively. Additionally, the help center will provide tenants with information about how they can connect to legal assistance with support from the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation (AVLF) and Atlanta Legal Aid.
The legislation is the outcome of successful efforts by organizations such as Georgia Advancing Communities Together Inc. (Georgia ACT), which advocates for policies that protect marginalized tenants from eviction and advance access to quality housing. An NLIHC partner, Georgia ACT is a statewide coalition of over 100 affordable housing and community development agencies.
Speaking about the passage of the new bill, Georgia ACT President and CEO Dr. Bambie Hayes-Brown said that “the City of Atlanta’s Eviction Diversion Program is a vital initiative designed to support Atlanta's most vulnerable residents by preventing unnecessary evictions and providing pathways to stable housing. By [providing] financial support, and access to essential resources, Atlanta aims to keep families in their homes and maintain the grassroots integrity of communities. This program is not just about immediate relief; it's about fostering long-term stability and ensuring that every Atlanta resident has the opportunity to thrive.”
Read more about Atlanta’s eviction diversion program at: https://star-c.org/eviction-relief/