ATLANTA—Gov. Brian Kemp announced Tuesday he is allocating around $250 million to help low-income Georgia communities improve parks, sidewalks, recreation facilities, and healthy food access.
A statement from the governor’s office said investment in infrastructure like parks and sidewalks has been connected to better health and decreased mortality from COVID and other illnesses.
“Though we have long since turned the corner on the pandemic, we know there are still some lingering public health impacts of Covid-19 that are broader than the disease itself,” Kemp said. “They include mental health challenges and unhealthy physical conditions caused by isolation.”
Kemp said keeping parks and recreation facilities open during the COVID pandemic allowed Georgians to continue to exercise and get fresh air .
“We were met with resistance at times on this approach, but we prevailed in giving both Georgians and numerous out-of-state visitors safe options,” Kemp said.
“By carefully investing these funds, we’re helping communities further move past the effects of the pandemic and become healthier.”
The $250 million will be awarded through a grant program. Local and county governments as well as non-profits can apply. The projects must be located in low-income communities.
Each approved project will be eligible to receive up to $2 million. Applications will be accepted from Sept. 1 to Nov. 18 and a virtual applicant workshop will be held on Sept. 6. More information about applying can be found on the program’s website.
The money comes from federal COVID relief funds provided to the state under the American Rescue Plan Act.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp announced Monday that his office will provide $62 million to help Georgia communities address homelessness and housing insecurity.
The governor’s office will award the funds to 20 organizations who applied via a competitive process. The funds will be used to build affordable housing, improve existing housing, and provide mental health services to people who are homeless.
“As Georgians faced the unprecedented challenges and economic downturn of the pandemic, COVID-19 robbed some of their financial stability, expanding the homeless population in vulnerable communities,” said Kemp. “Those who were already homeless faced even greater difficulties, with many already struggling with mental health or substance abuse issues.”
“By investing these funds in those who are already making a difference around our state on these fronts, we will provide those most in need with resources that will aid them on the road to personal and financial recovery,” Kemp said.
“I’m thrilled to see a number of Georgia ACT [Advancing Communities Together] members receiving funding for affordable housing development,” said Bambie Hayes-Brown, the president and CEO of Georgia ACT, a statewide coalition of affordable housing groups.
“We know the work that our mission-based developers do is very important to providing housing opportunities for the lowest income of Georgians,” said Hayes-Brown.
Hayes-Brown said Georgia ACT members awarded funding include Mercy Housing Southeast, Quest Community Development, and SUMMECH Community Development. These groups all work to provide affordable housing, mostly in the Atlanta area.
“We would like to see more outreach to those small mission-based developers outside of metro Atlanta and [those groups] also given technical assistance to apply,” said Hayes-Brown.
Some of the other groups awarded funding include Habitat for Humanity organizations in Athens, Troup County, and Houston County.
The funds come from federal COVID relief funds provided to the state under the American Rescue Plan Act. Additional grants will be awarded this fall to groups working to help homeless Georgians, said Andrew Isenhour, a spokesman for the governor.
A spokesman for Democrat Stacey Abrams – who is challenging Kemp for the governorship in November – criticized Kemp’s announcement.
“Kemp has repeatedly railed against spending that he’s now trying to claim credit for – even as housing costs continue to skyrocket on his watch with no response from him but election year gimmicks,” said Alex Floyd for the campaign.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Though many associate homelessness with urban centers, the problem of lack of housing is more widespread, speakers said at a recent state Senate hearing on homelessness.
Rising rental prices and wages that have not kept up have pushed some Georgians out of their homes, experts and local observers alike affirmed.
Federal data shows that there are around 10,000 homeless people in Georgia. Around one-third of those people are located outside of Georgia’s cities.
The housing crunch is not always as visible in rural Georgia as in Atlanta, said Dr. Bambie Hayes-Brown, CEO of Georgia Advancing Communities Together, a statewide coalition of affordable housing groups.
But the problem is real in rural areas, too.
Hayes-Brown’s organization sponsored a series of meetings around South Georgia to learn more about people’s experiences.
“People are doubling and tripling up,” she said, referring to a practice where families or individuals share housing in close quarters to help make ends meet.
Some people also live in tent encampments in forested or other out-of-the-way places in rural Georgia, she said.
Another concern is the lack of emergency shelters and other places for people to live when getting back on their feet, Hayes-Brown said.
There are around 3,000 emergency shelter and transitional housing beds and around 3,600 more permanent supportive housing spots in Georgia outside of the larger cities, according to the latest data from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.
But those supports are not always available where and when they are needed.
Cedartown in Northwest Georgia lacks a true homeless shelter, said John Winecoff of Community Share Ministries.
Winecoff runs a small, specialized program to help men get on their feet – but that can’t stem the tide Cedartown is seeing.
“Recently, we’ve had an upsurge of homeless people,” Winecoff said. “Places to live … have become unaffordable.”
There’s also a lack of jobs in the area. Some homeless people are struggling with addictions to opioids, alcohol, or methamphetamines. Others are just passing through, often on their way to Atlanta, and get stuck in the area, Winecoff said.
“There’s not many resources for someone to turn to in Cedartown,” he said. “Some have no choice but to sleep in the woods.”
Winecoff said many homeless people lack basic identification documents that would help them get services or find a job, so his organization tries to help.
“There’s no way to get [an ID]” if you live in the woods, he said.
Small cities are facing similar problems, said Gainesville Chief of Police Jay Parrish, who has noticed an uptick in homelessness over the past three to five years.
“In simple economics, the increased demand for housing coupled with a decreased supply created a higher market price for housing,” Parrish said. “Affordable housing is more difficult to come by. This has left many of our population homeless.”
Parrish’s police department and community groups are acutely aware of the problem, he said, and they work together to connect people with resources.
Yet so far there’s been no magic-bullet fix to the root problem, the lack of affordable housing, Parrish said.
Far to the south, in Fitzgerald, Lethia Kittrell said people are sleeping in public places, camping in the woods, and staying in a local homeless camp.
Kittrell, CEO of the nonprofit Fitzgerald for Change and a Democratic candidate for the state House of Representatives, said her area lacks resources to address the problem, and she wants to fix that.
An influx of people from larger cities attracted by low – at least, to them – housing prices is contributing to the housing shortage, Kittrell said.
Even substandard units are much more costly than they used to be, Kittrell said, and she’s “majorly concerned” about safety in some housing units. Some people are struggling to meet higher energy bills and housing costs at the same time.
And Kittrell said there are many eviction cases pending in the courts.
Both Kittrell and Hayes-Brown said people working to solve the housing problem in small towns often feel disconnected from the financial and political resources of the big city.
Hayes-Brown pointed out that a small investment could make a big difference in a rural area.
There are a number of steps local and state policymakers can take to address homelessness, said Sarah Saadian, senior vice president of public policy at the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
Federal COVID relief funds could be used to help build affordable units and provide rent support, she said.
Municipalities can consider changing zoning laws to allow for more dense housing, such as multi-family units.
Some cities have banned landlords from asking how people will pay for a rental unit in an effort to stop discrimination against those relying on housing vouchers, Saadian said.
The federal government has a role to play as well. Though there is a federal rental assistance program, it only serves one in four people who need it to access affordable housing. More funding could increase the number of people helped, Saadian said.
A state Senate study committee on homelessness chaired by Sen. Carden Summers, R-Cordele, held its first meeting earlier this month. Advocates from both Atlanta and smaller towns across the state testified. The committee will meet again this fall.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA — Many rural Georgia counties lack easy access to methadone clinics, according to a new study by a University of Georgia (UGA) team.
Methadone is a “gold standard of opioid addiction treatments,” according to study author and UGA health economist Jayani Jayawardhana.
Methadone helps people quit addictions to drugs like heroin, oxycodone and fentanyl.
But there’s a logistical challenge: For the first three months of treatment, patients must report daily to a clinic to get methadone. After that, many patients can take the drug at home.
Even though methadone is effective at helping people with addictions quit other drugs, it also can be addictive and should be closely supervised at first, said Jayawardhana, an associate professor.
The study found just one of the five Georgia counties with the highest opioid overdose death rates in 2019 had a methadone clinic within a 15-minute drive.
All told, the state has only 85 methadone clinics, the team found. Those are mostly around cities like Atlanta and Augusta.
Nearly half of Georgia counties — 71 of 159 — lack a methadone clinic within a 15-minute drive.
“You can’t expect people to drive an hour or two daily for three months,” Jayawardhana said. “That’s not possible for most.”
The lack of nearby access to methadone clinics could be one reason many people drop out of treatment, she said. Patients may not have transportation and face difficulties getting rides to distant clinics from rural areas.
The study suggests using Georgia’s 116 federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) to help Georgians access methadone treatment.
“If these centers can deliver methadone, you could increase access with minimal cost and training and without having to build new facilities, hire personnel, or buy major equipment,” Jayawardhana said.
Georgia’s rate of overdose deaths increased by about 37.4% from 2019 to 2020, according to the latest data from the federal Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.
This is in line with national trends that saw overdose rates soar during the COVID pandemic as fentanyl – an especially dangerous opioid – flooded American streets.
On Tuesday, the Republican governor said he is allocating an additional $125 million to pay for school health centers.
All told, the total is $162.4 million. The funding comes from federal COVID relief funds allocated to the state in 2020 and 2021.
The funding for Georgia school-based health centers (SBHCs) will be administered by the Department of Education through a grant program, Kemp said.
School-based health centers can provide a variety of services depending on a community’s need. These include providing primary and behavioral care, treating illnesses, and providing vision and dental services.
“SBHCs have also been proven to help communities by reducing avoidable or unnecessary emergency room visits, increasing access to quality health-care options, [and] improving school attendance records…,” a statement from the governor’s office said.
The $37.4 million in education funding will pay for tutoring to help students recover from COVID learning loss and help students with special needs.
Recipients include the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, the Georgia Department of Education, the Georgia Alliance of YMCAs, the Georgia Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs, and the Georgia Public Library Service.
A spokesman for Democrat Stacey Abrams – who is challenging Kemp for the governorship in November – criticized Kemp’s announcements.
“Brian Kemp already cut nearly $1 billion from public education — and now wants credit for federal investment he repeatedly opposed,” said Alex Floyd, a spokesman for the campaign.
Georgia has a historic budget surplus, in part due to federal COVID relief funds that flowed to the state government and partly due to record economic growth.
Kemp plans to send $350 in cash assistance to low-income Georgians enrolled in state benefit programs like food assistance and Medicaid, he said last week. That will account for more than $1 billion of the state surplus.
