Atlanta, GA
Atlanta, DeKalb pushing to shelter, support those chronically homeless ahead of Christmas
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – On Tuesday, the City of Atlanta opened its newest housing complex for those chronically homeless.
The 23-unit apartment building along Bonaventure Avenue NE in the Virginia-Highland neighborhood of Atlanta is geared toward those sleeping on the street or under bridges to find immediate shelter.
“This is quick-delivery rapid housing of quality, and we’re trying to (open for tenants) by Christmas because it’s so cold outside,” said Mayor Andre Dickens, after a ribbon-cutting ceremony with city housing leaders.
The complex is the latest in a push by the Dickens Administration to secure 500 units of housing by the end of 2025 for those experiencing homelessness.
Dickens also has a goal of building or preserving 20,000 units of affordable housing by 2030.
On Tuesday, he confirmed the city is over the halfway mark in this goal.
“I’m a goal-oriented person, and I use partnerships well. We’re going to get to our 20,000 units,” Dickens said on Tuesday.
He charged other regional leaders to help the city in this effort.
“We actually end up housing people that are not always from the city. So we want to make sure that regionally, across north Georgia, that you all do as we are doing,” said Dickens.
On Tuesday, DeKalb County announced a $13 million investment to reduce homelessness and prevent evictions.
“People are desperate, inflation is making it extremely difficulty for working people to keep food on the table or to pay their rent,” said DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond.
The $13 million will be divided between nine different nonprofit organizations serving DeKalb County.
The participating nonprofit agencies and their services are listed below:
Assistance for rent, utilities, housing instability, unsafe, unhealthy living conditions:
- New Life Community Ministries, $2.8 million
- Urban League of Greater Atlanta, $2.8 million
- Latin American Association, $2.3 million
- New American Pathways, $1 million
- Jewish Family Career Services of Atlanta, $1 million
- Africa’s Children Fund, $1 million
- Society of St. Vincent de Paul, $1 million
Housing stability services (legal services related to evictions):
- Atlanta Legal Aid Society, $600,000
- DeKalb Pro Bono, $200,000
To apply, residents can contact the DeKalb Integrated Community Care Initiative hotline at 404-371-NEED (6333) for program guidance.
“Thirteen million is a big number, but really, if you compare it to the challenge we face, it’s relatively small. But we’re just happy, actually blessed, to be able to stand in the gap not just on this very cold day, but on cold days that will be coming throughout this winter,” said Thurmond.
Atlanta housing leaders said they plan on opening three additional rapid housing complexes in the city by the end of 2024.
“When you see these ribbon cuttings of the 23, 35, 65 [units], they add up,” said Dickens.
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The public is getting its first look at the two pandas that will be heading from China to Zoo Atlanta.
NBC’s Janis Mackey Frayer was able to visit female Fu Shuang and male Ping Ping before they make the nearly 8,000-mile flight. The giant pandas are both 6 years old and are headed to the United States as part of a new decade-long conservation agreement between China and the U.S.
Ping Ping’s keepers say he tends to follow them around, which is atypical behavior for a panda, but may be because of the food they have for him. Fu Shuang — which translates to “double happiness” — is playful, but nervous, and enjoys placing her chin on her paw. She also likes apples and has a penchant for finding them.
“Because we will hide pieces of apples, for example under the tree … she can find them everywhere,” panda keeper Wang Shun told Mackey Frayer, noting her “clever” behavior.
The pandas are part of an international cooperative research agreement on giant panda conservation between Zoo Atlanta and the China Wildlife Conservation Association, a renewal of panda diplomacy between America and China that began in 1972.
“Zoo Atlanta is delighted and honored to yet again be trusted as stewards of this treasured species and to partner with the China Wildlife Conservation Association on the continued conservation and research efforts that are the most important outcomes of this cooperation,” Zoo Atlanta President and CEO Raymond B. King said in a statement in April.
“We can’t wait to meet Ping Ping and Fu Shuang and to welcome our Members, guests, city, and community back to the wonder and joy of giant pandas.”
Pandas are already at zoos in Washington, D.C., and San Diego. Zoo Atlanta maintained a panda agreement with China from 1999 until 2024, when Lun Lun and Yang Yang went back to their home country, along with their two youngest cubs.
Animal behaviorist James Ayala marvels at how pandas mature.
“You see cubs and they seem so cuddly and clumsy and cute. And then they grow up into these big, majestic bears,” he told Mackey Frayer.
Fu Shuang and Ping Ping will be transported further south into a mountainous region where they will be prepped to make the trip to the U.S. It is unknown when they will leave.
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