‘Social workers showed up with donuts, but no housing:’ Homeless encampment closures raising eyebrows
By Chase Houle
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ATLANTA (WXIA) — More than 40 people who had been living in a homeless encampment off Memorial Drive near Moreland Avenue say they were forced out earlier this year and left without a place to go.
Now, that lot is fenced off with no trespassing signs after they were all kicked out in February. Some say they were given no place to go, like Brandon Gardiner, who has been living in the woods off Moreland Avenue for the past few weeks.
“I wanted to get working, and I wanted to get back again, and I feel like I started collecting my tools again and started working, then boom. This happens. Then that happens. It just sets you back.”
Gardiner says the city first gave residents a 30-day notice to vacate the encampment on Howell Street in December. He says that when the deadline approached, the city extended the notice by another 30 days because of winter weather and told residents it would return with housing options for everyone.
“Social workers started showing up around five, providing donuts and not housing or anything,” said Gardiner.
Gardiner says police showed up on Feb. 21, and residents were given just 10 minutes to gather their belongings and leave.
“I lost a box of my dad’s stuff that will never be returned. I lost my dad three years ago, and I’ll never be able to have that stuff again.”
Back at the former encampment site, fresh barbed wire now wraps around the top of a fence surrounding an empty lot that some people had called home for years.
“It makes me feel real, real bad. Like, real bad, and I know it makes my family, my friends, and everybody feel bad. People were even crying about this situation.”
Quinvarious Sims lived at the encampment for nearly two years and says he was also promised housing by the city, but says it never happened.
“Where have you been having to stay at,” asked 11Alive’s Chase Houle.
“Everywhere. All over. Streets. Sidewalks. In bushes. Anywhere we can pick to stay.”
Houle also reached out to Partners for HOME, an organization leading the charge in getting homeless individuals off the streets. In a statement, Cathryn Vassell, the organization’s CEO, wrote:
“Partners for HOME coordinated pathways to shelter and housing through our CoC partners for individuals at the Howell St. encampment. Eight people agreed to housing and are currently housed or awaiting move-in. Outreach teams will continue working with individuals on housing and wraparound support to ensure individual needs are met.
Partners for HOME is committed to supporting our homeless neighbors through coordination of service providers, prioritizing outreach, housing pathways and service connections in our approach. Through this effort, we are changing the culture on our streets and in our shelters – reinforcing with every engagement that we are offering a pathway to housing and support.”
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