This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with WABE. Sign up for Dispatches to get stories like this one as soon as they are published.
Georgia
Former Foster Youth Are Eligible for Federal Housing Aid. Georgia Isn’t Helping Them Get It.
Malik Johnson thought he was doing well after he turned 21 and left foster care, working two jobs to afford his apartment south of Atlanta.
But last fall, everything started to fall apart: His car transmission failed, so he couldn’t reach his second job. He fell behind on rent.
He didn’t know about a federal housing program that could have reduced his housing costs. It’s open to foster youth in all states as long as local government agencies put in an application for the funding. But in Georgia, they didn’t make that request for Johnson — or for almost anyone else.
Instead, at 23, he was on his own. As he faced his mounting bills, the stress got to be overwhelming.
“I was to the point where I was so behind on everything, I just almost stopped caring,” Johnson said.
In Georgia’s foster care system, about 500 young people become adults each year and, sometime between age 18 and 21, they’ll have to make it on their own. Without the safety net the foster care system provides, they’re especially vulnerable to becoming homeless.
That risk is why, in 2019, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development created the Foster Youth to Independence program, which offers between three and five years of rental assistance to young adults who have moved on from foster care. The program is the only long-term federal housing assistance targeted at former foster youth as they navigate adulthood, and advocates hoped it would help prevent situations like Johnson’s from ever happening.
But there’s a catch: The money comes not directly through the federal government, but through the states, which have to apply for and coordinate the funding. WABE and ProPublica found Georgia has barely done that.
Through the program, each local housing authority can request up to 25 FYI vouchers each year. In Georgia, where 20 housing authorities are eligible, that means as many as 500 vouchers could be available, bringing in as much as $5 million in rent money from the federal government each year.
According to HUD’s latest data from last fall, housing authorities in Georgia have received only eight FYI vouchers total since the program began. By contrast, a third of states have each received at least 75 of these vouchers in the program’s first several years. Texas, Florida and Washington have received more than 400 each; California has upwards of 800, helping hundreds of young people afford stable housing. Only five states, all significantly smaller than Georgia, had requested fewer vouchers.
The failure to tap federal vouchers for foster youth in Georgia is a symptom of a child welfare system that has paid little attention to the housing needs of families and children, WABE and ProPublica have found. Previous reporting showed how the state Division of Family and Children Services had put few of its resources toward housing assistance for families in recent years, even as it cited “inadequate housing” among its reasons for removing 20% of children from their parents.
In the case of the FYI vouchers, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has instructed state welfare agencies to work with local housing authorities to ensure the program is used, and in states that have received the most vouchers, child welfare agencies have actively promoted the program and sometimes hired new staff.
But in Georgia, staffers at roughly half of the state’s eligible housing authorities said they hadn’t heard from the state agency about the vouchers in the program’s first five years. A couple of housing authorities said they struggled to get in touch with DFCS to complete the application, while others said they were not eligible to apply because the agency had not helped them to use up other housing funds they needed to distribute before they could tap the program.
DFCS spokesperson Ellen Brown said the staff overseeing services for older foster youth had recently changed and she couldn’t speak to what had happened previously. But she said the agency is now working to strengthen partnerships with housing authorities — efforts that have taken place as WABE and ProPublica started reporting on the issue in recent months and after a local volunteer began pushing the state to expand its use of the FYI program.
Brown also said DFCS staff meet regularly with young people before they exit foster care to “discuss their future plans,” which includes figuring out their housing. “Our team works tirelessly to help them plan and prepare for a safe, stable and successful transition out of care and into adulthood,” she said.
Still, Ruth White, who directs the National Center for Housing and Child Welfare and was central to getting the federal program created, questioned why DFCS wasn’t more aggressive in bringing the vouchers to the state.
“Imagine being an entity that goes in and removes a kid from their house,” White said, “and then not being the agency that’s chomping at the bit to make sure you get a housing voucher for that young person.”
Study after study has shown the high risk of homelessness among young adults who age out of foster care. A 2021 national survey of 21-year-olds who had been in foster care across the country showed that a little more than a quarter of them had been homeless during the previous two years. The same survey also showed similar numbers in Georgia.
For years, child welfare advocates and former foster youth pushed Congress to address this housing crisis.
“We have the numbers, and we have the data,” said Lisa Dickson of the foster youth alumni organization ACTION Ohio in her 2018 testimony to Congress. “What our nation needs is a sense of urgency about this problem.”
HUD already had its Family Unification Program, which provides housing funds to families and youth who’ve been affected by the foster care system. But HUD found that, in the competition for those limited resources, young people were losing out: They received just 5% of those vouchers in 2019, with the rest going to families.
So HUD created the Foster Youth to Independence program, earmarking some vouchers exclusively for young people. As with any Section 8 housing voucher, young people contribute a third of their income toward rent; the federal government covers the rest.
But unlike other voucher programs, FYI requires significant buy-in from child welfare agencies, which must identify eligible young adults and also offer them other support, like job training and financial counseling. That’s why housing authorities and child welfare agencies have to work together to take advantage of the program.
That didn’t happen in Georgia. In Cobb County, northwest of Atlanta, the chief operations officer of the Marietta Housing Authority tried to pursue vouchers in 2020. Mark Wright reached out to the local DCFS director, but he didn’t get the signed agreement from the agency that the program requires. After that, Wright said, “I kind of felt like we were not going to get the kind of buy-in from other agencies to make it successful.” He gave up.
Housing authorities in Atlanta and neighboring DeKalb County already had partnerships with DFCS because they offered the Family Unification Program. But they still had a hard time accessing the FYI funding. In recent years, they said, DFCS hadn’t identified enough young adults or families for the Family Unification Program, and this prevented them from qualifying for the FYI vouchers under HUD’s rules.
In Texas, by contrast, the child welfare agency took the lead in making sure the vouchers reached young people. The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services hired Jim Currier as housing specialist. He, in turn, designated liaisons in each of the child welfare system’s regions, trained them in the rules of the program and incorporated information about the vouchers in the manuals for foster youth aging out of care. The child welfare agency now has 40 partnerships, and DFPS initiated 38 of them.
Currier said vouchers have transformed the lives of some of the young people they’ve gone to. “They now have a safe, permanent home; they can begin to work on their well-being; they can work on their education,” he said.
Recently, in Georgia, DFCS and housing authorities began talking about how to serve more of those former foster youth — thanks in part to the work of one persistent volunteer.
Anne Carelli got to know teenagers in foster care when she volunteered at a group home in Atlanta. As they aged out of the system, she saw some of those teenagers end up homeless. So when she learned about the FYI vouchers a few months ago, she couldn’t believe Georgia wasn’t using them.
“To have housing vouchers for youth aging out of care — that is an incredible opportunity for all of us to come together and figure this out,” said Carelli, who has founded a nonprofit called Up3 to help connect young adults with the resources they need.
Carelli said she has sent more than 60 emails to housing authorities, public officials and DFCS to kickstart meetings about getting vouchers to young people she knows who qualify.
Credit:
Matthew Pearson/WABE
She’s hoping one of them will be Johnson, who she met through the group home. He’s still spending nearly four hours every day on buses and trains to get to work. The assistance would help him save for another car.
Johnson knows the value of a little outside support. Last fall, Carelli loaned him the money that allowed him to make up his rent until his income was stable again. As much as he’s tried to be responsible for himself — keeping his apartment vacuumed and clear of clutter, earning an employee of the month plaque from his job — he faced a crisis he couldn’t handle on his own.
“But I had help,” Johnson said. “And that was the best part about it too — being able to receive help when you need it.”
ATLANTA – A high-speed pursuit on Interstate 20 in Fulton County ended in a deadly gas station crash on Monday afternoon, leaving an innocent bystander dead and three others badly hurt.
What we know:
Investigators said that a Georgia state trooper tried to stop a Hyundai Elantra traveling west on I-20 in Fulton County around 2:40 p.m. The driver was allegedly speeding at 90 mph in a 55 mph zone, authorities said.
The driver, later identified as 26-year-old Fre’shun Tyai White of Marietta, initially slowed down before suddenly speeding away. White crossed all lanes of I-20 West and exited onto the Boulevard exit ramp before abruptly merging back onto the main highway, nearly causing a crash.
The initial trooper was unable to safely follow White back onto the interstate and was forced to exit onto Boulevard.
A second trooper who was nearby saw White merge recklessly back into traffic and tried to catch up with the vehicle, police explained.
Before that second trooper could reach him, White exited onto the Hill Street ramp at a high rate of speed. Investigators believe White lost control of the Hyundai Elantra, crossed Hill Street, and crashed into a gas station parking lot.
The vehicle struck a parked car inside the lot.
Chatanna Ohiyesha Patterson, 51, was standing beside that parked vehicle and died from injuries caused by the impact.
White, a passenger in his vehicle and the driver of the parked car were all seriously injured in the crash.
All three were taken to the hospital.
White is charged with vehicular homicide in the first degree and serious injury by vehicle, along with other related charges.
What they’re saying:
“Tonight, a family is grieving the sudden loss of a loved one, and our thoughts remain with everyone impacted by this tragedy. Moments like this leave lasting pain for families, friends, witnesses, and the broader community. While the investigation remains ongoing, this incident serves as a painful reminder of the dangers created when drivers make reckless decisions and flee from law enforcement,” the Georgia State Patrol said in a statement.
What we don’t know:
The current condition of those injured in the crash is unknown.
The Source: Information in this article comes from the Georgia State Patrol.
Dear Georgia,
Now, I haven’t written many love letters in my life.
But the ones I have written? Pretty positive reviews overall.
So I figured I’d try writing one to the state of Georgia.
Oddly enough, I had only been in Georgia about two months before all of this — back in March. But it was a completely different part of the state, under completely different circumstances, living what felt like a completely different life.
There was a beach.
It was cold.
And honestly, I thought I was the happiest girl in the world.
I truly believed life couldn’t get any better.
I had no idea that only two months later I’d be hiking the Appalachian Trail doing something I had dreamed about for nearly a decade.
Back then, I was doing cartwheels on the beach and landing… not so gracefully.
Now, I’m slipping down muddy banks trying to collect water without falling directly into a creek.
Back then, I was staying in Airbnbs that probably needed a little work.
Now, I’m sleeping in three-walled shelters and a tent that somehow always ends up on an incline.
Back then, I was searching for seashells.
Now, I’m just trying not to eat dirt after tripping over the twentieth root of the day.
And instead of driving twelve hours south back to my Key West home…
I’m walking north.
Still walking north.
As dramatic as it sounds, I genuinely feel like I was a different person two months ago than the one currently hiking through these mountains.
And let me tell you — this journey has not been all rainbows and daisies.
It’s been sweat.
Dirt.
Blisters.
Exhaustion.
It’s been trying not to lose my mind after eating ramen for the third night in a row.
It’s been looking up at a mountain and wondering why the trail suddenly decided vertical was acceptable.
It’s been wanting to quit sometimes.
Georgia was hard.
But somehow, Georgia was also easy.
Because despite all the climbs and soreness and moments where I questioned every decision I’ve ever made, Georgia also gave me:
- incredible people,
- breathtaking views,
- unforgettable memories,
- and proof that I’m capable of far more than I thought.
I genuinely didn’t expect to fall in love with this state the way I did.
And I think that’s the thing about love:
it isn’t transactional.
Love isn’t only loving something when it’s easy.
There were moments I wanted to scream. Moments I was frustrated. Moments where Georgia absolutely humbled me.
And somehow I still loved it anyway.
I would tell Georgia “I love you” a hundred times over because every brutal climb and miserable rainy day made me stronger.
Nine days doesn’t sound like much in the grand scheme of things.
But out here?
Nine days feels like a lifetime.
And even though Georgia was only the beginning of this journey, it already changed me in ways I don’t think I fully understand yet.
Goodbyes are hard.
But goodbyes are also what open the next door.
And who’s to say I’ll never come back?
For me, Georgia became something I never knew I needed.
And somehow… this is still only the beginning.
Xoxo,
Ari, Piper, and (Trail name to be revealed soon…)
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THE FLATS – Georgia Tech baseball has been named an official NCAA Regional host site for the 2026 NCAA Baseball Tournament, it was announced on Sunday night. The ACC regular season and ACC Tournament Champion Yellow Jackets (48-9) will make their 37th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and host the regional round at Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium for the 13th time, first since 2019.
The Jackets are 72-62 in Regional play over program history and are 26-15 (.634) when playing Regional games at home.
2026 will go down as the greatest regular season in Georgia Tech baseball’s storied history, earning its second consecutive regular season ACC Championship while winning the ACC Tournament title in the same season for just the fourth time in program history and set records in offensive output, victories, attendance and revenue generated with a chance to add on even more accolades in the postseason.
Georgia Tech Athletics set a goal to create more seats and a better gameday experience for fans at Mac Nease Baseball Park this season and Tech fans responded, setting a program record with a total attendance of 98,297 over 34 games. A 90% increase in ticket sales from the 2025 season and a 105% increase from 2025 in revenue from home games.
That 98,297 total included crowds of over 2,000 for all 34 home games for the first time in program history and 15 crowds of at least 3,000 fans, also a program record. Tech fans have averaged a sell-out crowd over the final 16 games of the regular season (since March 31) averaging 3,354 fans per game with a capacity of 3,194. That ground swell led to an average home attendance of 2,891 – the largest in the state of Georgia, with an average 90.5% capacity crowd, the best in the ACC, 11th best in the nation and 5th best in Power 4.
Added Strike Zone seating and first base row, along with an expanded concourse and more concessions options have played a significant part in improving the game day experience at Mac Nease Baseball Park, as alumni, students and baseball fans in Atlanta have flocked to witness the greatest offense in the BBCOR era deliver time and time again. Tech fans sold out Mac Nease Baseball park nine times over the course of the season, with GT winning all nine games by a combined score of 100-34.
On the field, the Yellow Jackets have produced the best regular season record in 106 years, going 48-9 while tying the ACC record with 25 conference wins and becoming just the 14th team in conference history to sweep both the ACC regular season and tournament championships Tech went 15-3 against Top 25 opponents, the best winning percentage (.833) against ranked opponents in school history with seven of those 15 wins coming by at least 10 runs.
The Yellow Jackets tied a 26-year old school record with five first team all-conference selections while head coach James Ramsey was named ACC Coach of the Year, marking the first time in conference history that a coach was named Coach of the Year in his first season as a coach.
Georgia Tech will now await the NCAA Selection Show on Monday, May 25 to find out its seeding and what three teams will join it at Mac Nease Baseball Park. The Selection Show is scheduled for noon and will be broadcast live on ESPN2.
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
For the latest information on the Georgia Tech baseball team, follow us on X (@GTBaseball), Facebook, Instagram (@gt_baseball) or visit us at www.ramblinwreck.com.
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