Renters in Athens who fall behind on payments and become at risk of eviction might be getting some help again soon.
The Athens-Clarke County Commission voted to restart an eviction prevention program that stalled out last year. Family Promise of Athens, working in partnership with The Ark, will revive the program and attempt to make some improvements on it. They’ll receive $900,000 from the federal American Rescue Plan that the commission allocated to eviction prevention in 2021 but has been left unspent.
Between them, Family Promise and The Ark have over 38 years of experience running local rental assistance programs. They also have a history of contract compliance working with ACC’s Housing and Community Development Department, unlike the program’s previous contractor, Athenian First Development Corporation. ACC officials shut down the program in October due to AFDC’s financial reporting irregularities. Despite that, the first iteration of this program helped 425 households avoid eviction at a cost of $1.4 million, or $3,300 per eviction prevented.
Board of Education member Tim Denson, a strong advocate for the program when he was a county commissioner, went to the podium at City Hall last Tuesday night to make the fiscal case for eviction prevention. Denson said that he calculated that the average cost to the public for an eviction in Georgia is $9,669, using a University of Arizona formula. This figure includes the cost of providing emergency shelter, medical care and child welfare costs that could be avoided if a family were able to stay in their home.
“I hope that you all vote to implement this program and keep hundreds of families in their homes instead of sleeping on the streets, in tents, in cars and in shelters,” Denson told the commission. “The evidence shows that eviction prevention better sustains the physical, mental and financial health of individuals facing eviction, and the entire Athens community.”
After public comment concluded, Commissioner Jesse Houle moved to restart the eviction prevention program with Family Promise and The Ark as the new providers.
“We had to cut the program off because of issues with the vendor, but the program itself had proved to be very successful,” Houle said. “There’s a strong economic argument for this. It’s much cheaper to keep people in their homes than it is to try and re-house them. I also think there’s a strong moral imperative for us to do what we can for people who are in a precarious situation.”
Commissioner Mike Hamby pointed out the improvements Family Promise and The Ark intend to implement. For example, the new version will serve families at risk of eviction, in addition to families already in eviction proceedings. They’ll also provide wrap-around services, such as helping to look for better-paying work and different housing if appropriate.
The commission voted 9-1 last Tuesday to restart the eviction prevention program. Commissioner Ovita Thornton was the lone vote against it, despite voting for it the first time, when AFDC was the beneficiary.
“We forget too fast that we had three or four groups when we used CARES money to help people with eviction and food. Instead of building on groups that have worked through some challenges, we come up with a whole new program,” Thornton said. “We as a government should build on what’s working, tweak it and fix it. No, I’m not going to vote for this.”
Thornton appeared to be referencing the commission’s vote in 2020 to distribute federal CARES Act funding to various community nonprofits for food aid, homeless services and other assistance. The Ark was one of those nonprofits.
This program will serve at least 200 Athens households, with a preference for those under 50% of the area median income.
Linnentown Lane: The commission took a preliminary vote accepting a recommendation from the Athens Justice and Memory Project to rename the portion of South Finley Street between Cloverhurst Avenue and Baxter Street “Linnentown Lane.” This stretch of road lies in between Russell and Creswell halls, two University of Georgia dormitories built on the site of the former Linnentown neighborhood during the urban renewal period of the 1960s.
This neighborhood was condemned by the City of Athens and razed by UGA to provide space for the dormitories, an act the local government has called “institutionalized white racism and terrorism.” The Athens Justice and Memory Project, led by former residents of Linnentown, is asking for this portion of Finley Street to be renamed so their neighborhood, and the injustice they endured, is remembered by the Athens and UGA communities. UGA has resisted those efforts.
Traffic Calming: The commission is reviewing ACC policies on which neighborhoods qualify for traffic-calming measures to slow down speeding drivers who make it dangerous to walk. Right now, 65% of residents on a particular street need to agree before devices like speed tables or traffic circles will be installed. It works well for highly engaged neighborhoods, but a 65% response rate is a high bar to clear.
As the commission was about to authorize roughly $300,000 for traffic calming on about 10 streets, Houle spoke up for some neighborhoods that have yet to reach consensus, but who desperately need traffic management as indicated by crash data. Houle proposed using cheaper, temporary speed tables on streets like Westchester Drive and on Sunny Hills Drive for the time being, until they are either able to reach consensus or the policy requiring them to do so is changed. The rest of the commission agreed, voting unanimously in favor of the idea. Thornton in particular spoke up in favor of changing the policy.
“I’m real concerned about the process that keeps leaving out so many communities because they don’t send back a postcard or don’t vote or whatever,” Thornton said.
Mayor Kelly Girtz agreed to send this policy to a committee for further work and discussion.
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