While a $2.5 Million Grant Offers Hope, Broader Issues Reveal the Need for More Inclusive Solutions to Rural Homelessness
After a devastating family tragedy, including a murder, Teresa Stubbs and her 6-year-old grandson, Avery Mock, found themselves living in an old camper in a friend’s backyard. Determined to offer Avery a better life, Teresa struggled to access the support they needed. Their situation changed when the Rural Homeless Initiative grant reached Savannah, GA, and surrounding rural areas, providing the crucial assistance they had been searching for. Two years later, Teresa and Avery have a fresh start in a two-story duplex near the Forest Heights Country Club, where they are beginning to heal and build a stable future.
Peggy Brown, a Bulloch County Housing Program Case Manager for Union Mission, plays a pivotal role in this transformation. Beyond securing housing, Brown advocated for the Stubbs family, helping them access food stamps, childcare, and more. She conducts weekly check-ins to ensure their continued well-being. To date, Brown has successfully housed 11 families but faces significant challenges in finding landlords willing to rent to formerly homeless individuals.
The Hidden Crisis of Rural Homelessness: Gaps in Support and Access
Rural homelessness often goes unnoticed, with those living in these areas frequently falling through the cracks and missing out on essential services typically found in larger cities. The lack of accessible support makes it difficult for homeless individuals and their families to get the help they need.
Fortunately, a $2.5 million rural homeless grant, secured last summer by Union Mission in Savannah, is now being administered locally through the Open Hearts Community Mission homeless shelter. This grant offers up to three years of direct assistance to families like the Stubbs family. However, eligibility for this support is limited to those with mental health or substance abuse issues, physical disabilities, or children with developmental disabilities. As a result, many other struggling families still face barriers to accessing the services they need.
Georgia’s Reducing Street Homelessness Act: A Controversial Approach
These restrictions result from the “Reducing Street Homelessness Act,” a bill passed in Georgia that Invisible People has identified as highly deceptive.
Like the Rural Homeless Initiative grant, this bill is selective about whom it assists. The term “street” in the bill’s language reveals its focus: street homelessness, which represents only one facet of the broader homelessness issue. While street homelessness is the most visible, other forms include living in cars, rundown campers like the Stubbs, or constantly moving between couches. All these situations reflect a lack of stable, affordable housing.
The bill’s primary goal seems to be reducing the visibility of homelessness in Georgia. Additionally, it seeks to criminalize the act of seeking shelter on state property, making it a misdemeanor. The Cicero Institute, which is pushing this template legislation nationwide, proposes incarceration as a primary solution to the homelessness crisis rather than addressing the root causes of homelessness.
Georgia’s Reducing Street Homelessness Act not only targets street homelessness but also impedes the development of affordable housing. The bill seeks to eliminate prospects for permanent housing by banning the use of federal funds for constructing permanent homes. Additionally, it prohibits using any funding from the American Rescue Plan for affordable housing development, further restricting opportunities for long-term solutions.
Housing and Family Separation: The Third Leading Cause of Displacement in Georgia
If that weren’t concerning enough, Georgia’s history reveals a troubling preference for foster care over keeping poor and homeless families intact. Rather than offering rehousing and rental assistance, the state has often chosen to remove children from their homes and place them in foster care. In fact, the lack of affordable housing is the third leading cause of family separation in Georgia.
This underscores just how much worse things could have been for the Stubbs family if not for the dedicated support and advocacy of their social worker, Peggy Brown.
When we examine Georgia’s approach to homelessness, we see a stark lack of compassion. While the Rural Homeless Initiative is a positive step, its limited scope fails to address the full spectrum of homelessness in the rural areas around Savannah. True progress requires inclusive solutions that offer affordable housing and essential services to all individuals in need, not just those who meet narrow criteria.
