Cathryn Vassell: Bridging the Public and Private Sector
Updated: 12/01/23
Editors note: This story is part of an ongoing series on the issue of homelessness in Midtown. It was originally published in 2019 and has been updated.
Credit: Georgia State University
The HomeFirst initiative's goal is to add 1,500 permanent supportive housing units in the City of Atlanta by 2028. As of year-end 2023, 560 units were online and another 660 were in development.
Cathryn Vassell heads up Partners for HOME, a nonprofit that works on behalf of 100+ organizations that comprise Atlanta’s Homeless Continuum of Care. She directs the HomeFirst initiative, which includes outreach and housing. In recent years, she said the City of Atlanta has changed the way it addresses the issue of homelessness over recent years, with an increasing focus on permanent housing.
“We historically have spent a majority on crisis response and less on permanent housing solutions, so the very thing that would end [homelessness],” she said during an August 2019 interview. “That’s the focus of HomeFirst.”
Objective: Aligning Sustainable Investment for New Housing
Vassell's program is currently focused on completing a pipeline of supportive housing. Currently some 560 units have been delivered, with more coming in the next few years using funds pledged through HomeFirst.
“For much of this underway, we’re looking to identify sustainable revenue streams to continue these programs,” she said. “In the past, we’ve struggled to create state and local investments in homelessness, because we can’t just rely on what we get from the federal government. That’s the third leg of the stool, leveraging all existing resources and lining up new investments along the way.”
Planning for Future Needs a Moving Target
The homeless population is dynamic and has many subcategories, including youth, veterans, families and the chronically homeless, which describes people who have been homeless for at least a year (or repeatedly) and are struggling with a disabling condition such as a mental illness, substance abuse or a physical disability. Vassell said it’s tough to say whether the City of Atlanta has enough resources to address current needs.
“The population is constantly changing, and we will never have a solution for every single person that touches our system,” Vassell said.
Realities and Scale Differ Widely Among Cities
Atlanta has far fewer homeless than many other cities, with the New York City Coalition For the Homeless estimating the city has 78,000 and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority estimating almost 50,000 in the area. Why is the situation different here? Vassell said a big reason for this could be Atlanta’s relatively affordable cost of living compared to these cities — though that could change as affordable housing in the city continues to be integrated in at too slow of a pace.
“I think we’re definitely at a crossroads,” she said. “I think the more inertia we experience on prioritizing affordable housing, the less we’ll be able to get a handle on keeping our numbers down, and there’s only so much we can do in a crisis response system. Our hands are full with the population now.”
Read More:
- Follow HomeFirst's progress and learn more about its funding.