May 10, 2010
ATLANTA – Despite a foreclosure notice on their homeless facility, “we’re still here and plan to remain here,” says Anita Beaty, executive director of the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless. The Task Force has called a press conference at 1 p.m. TODAY, Thursday, May 13, in front of their center at 477 Peachtree Street.
At the press conference, residents and supporters of the center will make a “human lifeline” around the building, which provides emergency housing for 800+ people, as a symbol of their determination to stay. “This is our way home and we are staying,” says Jerome Baker, transitional housing resident and full-time volunteer.
“This flawed foreclosure is part of a longstanding effort by the City of Atlanta, Central Atlanta Progress and the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District to get this property,” Beaty said. “They don’t want homeless African-American men on the streets downtown or anywhere they can control access to public and private space.”
Beaty said the center had provided emergency housing for 15,000 homeless people and placed 1,500 into permanent housing last year. “The people who are here are here because they have nowhere else to go. They are here in order to get somewhere else. This place is a lifeline to safety, to housing, to treatment, to jobs, to whatever people need.”
“Until there are sufficient housing units for all people who need them, there will continue to be a demand for an emergency resting place, a place where anyone who is excluded can gain access. That place is Peachtree-Pine,” said Dr. Jim Beaty, co-executive director of the Task Force.
To see Anita Beaty’s interview click here
Contact: Anita Beaty, 404-729-5366 (cell); anitalawbeaty@aol.com
