When it comes to the issue of homelessness, homeless single mothers and families are the most frequent concerns for city officials in the 13 cities part of GMA’s Hub Cities Initiative.
Students pursuing their graduate degrees from the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University (GSU) researched the issue of homelessness for the Hub Cities this spring. The final report served as the student’s Public Service and Criminal Justice Capstone project and was presented to Hub Cities mayors and managers during a virtual meeting on June 24. Cayce Hamilton, Elliott Walker, Nikolai Elneser Montiel and Whitney Temple comprised the student team.
“Over the last few years the issue of homelessness had come up during meetings with the Hub Cities mayors and managers and we thoughts it was time to do some research on the issue,” said Brian Wallace, GMA’s director of strategic initiatives. “We wanted to do something that would provide these cities some useful information. We were excited to be able tap the resources available from GSU that are literally a short walk up the street from the GMA headquarters.” Wallace added that the quality of the report was very high, especially considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the ability of the students to work together as a team and to communicate with local officials and service providers in the 13 communities.
The sixty-page report provides an overview of the homelessness in each of the Hub Cities, a review of best practices from around the country, and specific recommendations for each city to address homelessness in their community. In general, the report recommended that the cities strengthen data collection and monitoring of the homeless population, help integrate service providers at the neighborhood level and implement various prevention strategies.
“There are a few points about the report that are worth mentioning,” said Dr. Joseph Hacker, the faculty advisor on the project. “There was considerable variation by city and region. The differences in size and character of homelessness really require a tailored response. There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to this issue, nor is there a silver bullet solution out there.”
Hacker went on to say that veterans who have fallen on hard times are a concern to a number of cities. However, the student’s research found that this subgroup of homeless individuals is very visible and their needs are largely attended to by communities. Instead, another group may be most vulnerable.
“I want to stress the importance of homeless families with small children, who are not mentally ill, nor drug addicted, nor veterans...this is a group with the most need and much less visibility than the other groups,” Hacker said.
During the June 24 presentation to the Hub Cities, the students felt, based on their research, that the most effective strategy to address homelessness is a “housing first” approach. This strategy focuses on providing housing to the people that need it, regardless of their other needs, such as help with substance abuse or mental health challenges. Suitable housing is a stable platform that allows other needs to be addressed. “Built for Zero” was cited as an initiative that has achieved success in addressing chronic homelessness in over 15 cities across the country.
Although the issue of homelessness does require funding from either government or non-profit service providers, an investment of time is just as important.
“The simplest approach to this problem is coordination and communication between partners,” Hacker said. “Our research of best practices suggests that an investment of time to bring providers together to facilitate cooperation provides benefits at low or zero cost. Even with lots of funding, ongoing coordination and communication between providers and agencies remains the best possible step in treating homelessness.”
This article appears in the September/October edition of Georgia’s Cities Magazine.