Athens answers national gentrification crisis with opportunity

By Kelcey Caulder

Gentrification, the process of renovating and reviving deteriorated urban neighborhoods through the influx of affluent residents, has always been a hot-button topic in Athens, particularly in terms of urban planning. While it has its benefits — including rising property values, increased wealth and increased economic activity — gentrification in Athens is more commonly known for contributing to the city’s massive income inequality and the displacement of low-income residents from homes and businesses.

Commissioner Melissa Link says that this is common in college towns and that the Athens Clarke-County government is constantly trying to uncover new ways of combating these problems.

“This is very typical of college communities. It happens everywhere, especially in Georgia, because students have the HOPE scholarship that allows them to keep extra income,” Link said. “They use that to pay for sky-rise housing complexes, so, because there is a market, people build them. What people don’t know is how gentrification affects businesses here in Athens.”

According to Rob Trevena, the Director of Housing and Community Development in Athens, the influx of higher-income residents to a particular area often lead to changes in culture and demand that lead to the closure of previously existing businesses within the community.

Trevena, along with Link, believes that Athens has found a way to discourage this from happening and even bring prosperity to communities already affected by gentrification — state-mandated opportunity zones.

Because of these opportunity zones, new businesses developing in Athens will find more tax benefits when opening in low-income and historic areas than downtown. Outlined in the Athens-Clarke County Urban Redevelopment Plan (URP), these zones are meant to encourage development and revitalization in “areas that are historically underserved and low-income with little business and that have often been gentrified” through the use of job tax credits.

“Here at the Housing and Community Development Department we assist neighborhoods that are quickly gentrifying because of the rapid development of student housing in the community,” said Trevena.

“When you have this vibrant downtown and an average citizen age of 25, you have a very young community. That becomes a great opportunity to make money. There’s a lovely pool of educated people here that will work for minimum wage which makes it easier to hire. Now, that has a downside if you were born and raised here and managed to just barely make it out of high school. That’s what we are dealing with. So, we developed a small business program that provides tax incentives for businesses locating in certain areas within the community.”

These areas are Baxter Street, Chase Street/Newton Bridge Road, Hawthorne Avenue, Lexington Road, North Avenue, Oak Street and West Broad Street, locations that were selected as opportunity zones because of their high poverty and crime rates, as well as their levels of visible blight.

When business owners build in these locations and create two or more jobs, they are given a special job tax credit of $3,500 per job created. The new jobs must be full-time, permanent positions and must pay at minimum $22,620 per year. The credits can be claimed for up to five years, as long as the jobs are maintained.

“For example, on Hawthorne Avenue, you could create two jobs at a gas station and be eligible for those job tax credits, but in other areas, you may have to create ten new jobs, and they’d have to be manufacturing jobs,” said Amy Lopp, the Business Development Specialist for the Athens-Clarke County Economic Development Department.

Though these incentives sound beneficial for business owners developing in Athens, it can be difficult to see how these tax credits will extend that benefit to other members of the community outside of simply increasing shopping options and occupying vacant buildings. For Trevena, it is all about creating a better local economy and safer neighborhoods in which everyone will be happier to live.

“Generally, what we’ve seen is when a business relocates into one of these zones, they redevelop the building itself, so they remove the blight from that individual tax parcel. Whether we’re talking about single family houses or businesses, when one is beginning to be repaired, renovated or rehabbed, it typically generates neighbors to do something similar. We’ve seen that in our low to moderate income neighborhoods where, with some government assistance, people nearby begin to clean up. It’s kind of a synergistic approach that helps everyone,” Trevena said.

“In Athens, we have this endless supply of freshman, sophomores, juniors, seniors, Master’s level students, who will come in and work for nothing,” he continued. “That’s really hard on the families that were born and raised here and now have to compete with them. Having more businesses and more jobs helps with that too.”

According to the URP, opportunity zones seek to “support the growth that protects community resources and sustains the high quality of life we want in Athens-Clarke County” and that “encourages high paying business and industry that employ and train a skilled labor force.” In other words, improvements will include reduced crime, better services, more jobs and a more diverse array of businesses.

Businesses already existing in other Athens areas are eligible for other tax credits such as investment credits, and the local government offers business owners who do not wish to open within opportunity zones other means of assistance.

“I would say that, more than anything, we provide services to help. We either partner them with someone who could help them or bridge the gap between them and the university. We might help them with regulatory issues. We connect with them and keep them here,” said Amy Lopp. “We help those businesses find space and do target outreach to entrepreneurs, particularly those in life sciences. They need to know about real estate and incentives, particularly if they only have one or two employees.”

Who Makes Athens: Mentoring through community and consistency

By Kelcey Caulder

Just outside of the University of Georgia’s North Campus sits East Athens’ “Iron Triangle,” a cluster of dilapidated storefronts and run-down businesses. In the Triangle, high-rise student living complexes tower over cars on cinder blocks and poorly paved streets. Broderick Flanigan, who now owns Flanigan’s Portrait Studio on Vine Street, grew up in the area’s public housing and considers the corner near Nellie B. Avenue home.

Flanigan is an institution in the Triangle. He has dedicated his life to bettering the neighborhood and is a member of some of its most successful youth advocacy programs. Of these contributions, perhaps the most important is the time Flanigan has spent mentoring East Athens’ teens and children.

Every afternoon, Flanigan opens the doors of his studio to local youth, introducing them to famous works created by black artists and working with them to create public art and murals of their own. One of these murals, located on the wall of the Triangle Plaza, features images of civil rights leaders Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.

Through these programs and the art they produce, Flanigan hopes the East Athens youth will develop a sense of self-worth and a pride in their black heritage and culture.

“I purposely put the studio in this location because I wanted to give back to this community,” Flanigan says. “I wasn’t sure what that would look like at first, but it has grown into a mentorship, art therapy type space where kids can come, be creative and express themselves.”

Flanigan says his studio is an open space where students can “unwind from the stress of home life or school, or whatever they may be going through.”

A consistent mentor

Flanigan says he devotes so much time to supporting Athens’ youth because he remembers growing up in East Athens and how important his own mentors were to his success.

“I met my first mentor when I was in the sixth grade, at about 12 years old,” Flanigan says. “He introduced me to jazz and prompted me to learn to play the trumpet.”

Flanigan says the conversations he had with his mentored pushed him to grow and experiment.

“He pushed me to try new and different things,” he says. “I’ve been very intentional in giving back in that same manner because I know it had a great impact on my life.”

Not only did Flanigan learn the value in trying new things from his mentor, he also learned the lesson of consistency.

“My mentor definitely was consistent. I think that’s one of the most important things you can be as a mentor,” Flanigan says. “You have to be there to try and offer sound advice. You won’t be able to reach every kid, but just be consistent.”

Having an adult in the community that checked in regularly with him about grades, passions and goals made growing up in what he calls a “tough situation” easier. It is his goal now to ease the burden of difficult living circumstances for kids who may need the presence of an adult that cares and pushes them to succeed.

According to Dr. Lee Cornelius, the director of the Center for Social Justice, Human and Civil Rights at UGA, Flanigan embodies consistency in every aspect of his outreach. The two men met in September 2015. Since then, Cornelius has seen the artist’s fingerprints on nearly every community project in East Athens.

“He does a great job of working behind the scenes quietly to do things within the community. It’s real for him. He re-invests his experiences by doing all that he can, by being present and by being an honest, real face for these kids and community members to see and hear,” Cornelius says. “When they look, they see him.”

It’s true. On any given day, Flanigan can be seen working for the betterment of his community. Whether its working with children at his studio, speaking with professors and students at UGA’s School of Social Work to formulate ideas for helping the community and maintaining its cultural integrity or acting as vice president of Chess and Community, a local nonprofit run by his close friend Lemuel “Life” LaRoche, Flanigan has dedicated his life to the East Athens youth.

A stepping stone

Chess & Community was Flanigan’s first foray into advocacy. He joined the team after meeting LaRoche in 2012. He says he was inspired by the organization’s mission — teaching children to apply the principles of chess to real life, encouraging them to “think ahead” and be present in every situation.

“I’ve always loved to play chess,” Flanigan says. “I just didn’t have a ton of people to play with. I played with my uncle a lot in high school, so when I found the Chess & Community organization, I was really inspired to get involved. It was a natural fit for me.”

He has remained involved with Chess & Community ever since, but that initial fit gave him a taste of what it would be like to change someone’s life.

Once he had a taste, Flanigan ran with it, starting up his own advocacy programs not long after. Today, seeing how his work helps young students, Flanigan says is the best part of his work.

“I remember once when I went to [a] career day at the local middle school, and a teacher came up to me and introduced herself. I told her who I was, and she said that she knew.”

The teacher told Flanigan one of her students who frequently visited his art studio had told her a lot about him. She told him ever since the student started visiting his studio, he had been performing better in class.

“He’d listened more, been more mindful of his presence in the classroom,” Flanigan says about the student. “She was thankful that he was coming in. He talked about it a lot, she said. Those are things you don’t always get to see or hear, so that meant a lot to me.”

For Flanigan, the hardest part of mentoring is his inability to fix every situation.

He recalls one family specifically, a mother and her children who were transitioning into a homeless shelter, and how frustrated he felt at not being able to do more for them.

“I don’t know why she was in that situation,” he says. “I didn’t pry into that, but it touched me. It let me know that there are so many services that are needed, specifically in terms of shelter. Without it, where would that family have gone?”

‘Pauldoe’ transformed into Columbia Brookside

By Kelcey Caulder

Rows of apartments, small and exactly alike, line Pauldoe Street in Athens, Georgia. White roof tops, brick bottoms, and narrow walks leading up to each door. Occasionally, a basketball might run across the street. A child runs after it, yelling over to his friends that he’ll be right back. A man comes home from work and makes his way up the narrow walk, exhausted after a long day at work. None seem to notice — or, if they do, it seems an unspoken rule that they don’t say it — that their neighborhood doesn’t look like the rest of Athens.

It’s older. Window air-conditioning units hang from shuttered windows and the bricks are faded with age. This is the place the people who live there call home. It is what Rob Trevena at the Athens Housing and Community Development Department labels ‘concentrated poverty.’

That is why, in 2012, the Athens Housing Authority (AHA) petitioned to receive tax credits from the state to transform the neighborhood, formerly known as Jack R. Wells Homes into Columbia Brookside.

Initially, some of the neighborhood’s residents worried that the renovations would permanently alter the culture of the area. Others, according to Marilyn Appleby, the Communications Director at AHA, were eager for something new and were supportive of the decision to update the property.

“Residents were asked that if it were possible, would they be more interested in renovations or tearing down the buildings and starting again. The residents as well as Housing and Urban Development approved of the idea of us working with outside parties to create a very different neighborhood than what had been there in the past,” said Appleby. “They wanted something more modern, something better taken care of.”

So, with assistance from the community and from the Housing and Urban Development Department, the AHA partnered with Columbia Residential, a leading Atlanta-based developer and manager of affordable and mixed-income housing, to develop a multi-family community of which a third of the apartments are public housing, a third are subsidized through tax credits and a third are market-rate. Several units would also be designated as senior living spaces.

Columbia Brookside will be the first mixed-income community in Athens. Units throughout the neighborhood will be divided among residents who can market-rate prices, ranging anywhere from $790 for a one-bedroom unit to $1,275 for a four-bedroom unit, those who qualify for a “tax credit” rate based on income and those who qualify for public housing whose rent will be the equivalent to 30 percent of their income.

When asked for her opinion about the mixed-income model, Commissioner Melissa Link said that it is the best way to ensure communities succeed.

“When you fill a community with only low-income individuals and those who have been in poverty, then you only get more concentrated poverty and crime,” said Commissioner Melissa Link. “I think Athens overall has switched over to this mixed-income model, like what will exist at Columbia Brookside, because it really does offer people the best chance of having the communities we all strive for and desire.”

According to Link, this type of mixed-income housing has been widely popular and successful across the country since the early 1990s because of the likelihood of increased investment in neighborhoods, enhanced security and higher management expectations. Link also stated a decrease in crime and an increase in property value as benefits to the mixed-income model.

Trevena also approved of the model, stating that the mixed-income units would be more sustainable than low-income units. He believes that developing Columbia Brookside as mixed-income would be a way to fight future blight, acting “almost like preventive medicine.”

“What we often find in my department is that when we renovate an area, it encourages the people who live there to keep renovating and renewing the area,” Trevena said. “One of the ideas is that, with mixed-income, people living in the community will be able to keep it up. And, hopefully, that will encourage other people living there to keep it nice too. After building is completely finished, which will be, I think, next year, there will be 372 apartments there. We want to see those last as long as possible.”

The 372 apartment units will replace the 125 housing units that existed at Jack R. Wells before renovations, more than doubling the amount of housing available on the property. But, for many who previously resided in the Pauldoe community, the number of houses doesn’t matter. Instead, they hope that the community spirit that existed there continues to survive.

Quintavious McCreed, a former student at Clarke Central High School who was displaced when renovations began on the Columbia Brookside project, spoke about what it was like to live in the neighborhood in Clarke Central High School’s Odyssey Online newspaper in 2013.

“When I first came to Pauldoe I was very quiet and stayed to myself. I would only go outside when I was playing with my little brother. In less than a month, though, that all changed. I grew a strong bond with those people. Everyday we hung out with each other, played ball and lived life. It was more than a bond like friends .We were all like brothers,” McCreed wrote.

Later in the same article, he describes leaving Pauldoe behind. “The thought comes through my head mostly every day: that was a big experience to be living in Pauldoe and being around everybody. But I think I can always keep it in my mind, in my heart.”

Today, McCreed is a graduate of Clarke Central High School. His family still resides in River’s Edge in Athens, the place they had moved into after leaving Jack R. Wells. He still remembers Pauldoe and how important that time was for him, how impactful it was to mentor and tutor kids at the Community Center and hopes that Columbia Brookside brings the same experience to other children and teenagers that will live there.

“It was a place that I really won’t ever forget and I hope that other people get to feel that too. It was known for being a bad neighborhood, but it was our neighborhood and it was really cool to be a part of it,” he said.

When asked, Appleby said that the AHA hasn’t spent too much time discussing how the culture of the area might change following the completion of the remodel nor about how it has changed since the senior living units were opened.

“All I can say is that we believe the mixed-income model will benefit the community and that we know it has worked in other communities and been very successful. Personally, I think if that holds true, the culture of the community will be just fine,” Appleby said.

Organizations – Downtown

Athens Downtown Development Authority

My Athens

Downtown Athens

Athens Event Calendar

Downtown Athens Master Plan

Old Stories

Published in 2007 in The Augusta Chronicle, “Parking Less Pricey in Downtown Athens” details a now-resolved dispute among Athens residents as to whether or not parking meter prices and fines should be raised, as they were some of the lowest among the Georgia cities surveyed. At the time, parking meters charged five cents per twelve minutes, and a ticket for an expired meter was $3, while parking beyond the time limit was a $5 ticket. While some residents and city officials wanted the ticket fines to remain that low, they have since been raised to $10 for an expired meter and $15 for parking beyond the time limit.

“Third Try to Build On Downtown Lot,” published in 2009 in the Athens Banner-Herald, describes the debate among Athens business owners and city officials to decide if building a four story parking deck on East Broad Street would detract so much from the look and feel of historic downtown that it wouldn’t be worth it. However, members of the Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundations voiced their support for it.

Another parking deck, this one six stories, encountered greater resistance in late 2009, as reported by the Athens Banner-Herald in “Too Late for Say On New Deck.” Citizens felt that city commissioners fast-tracked the building of the parking deck without making sure local business and citizens approved of it. Many were afraid it would obscure and dwarf the Georgia Theatre and simply be a drab eyesore. The city commission was unwilling to change or slow down the process.

Brainstorming List

Are luxury housing complexes and high rises downtown pushing low-income residents to the outskirts of the city?
Create an interactive map showing what areas of Athens are gentrified (where gentrification is/has occurred) and when. I think this would be particularly interesting if I were to show neighborhoods in Athens and how they have changed over time. I would use StoryMap JS to do this. I would drop pins on different gentrifying areas and include photos (if obtained) of the area in the past and an original, current photo of the area today. I think it would also be very interesting to include audio from people living in or who previously lived in each neighborhood that tells the story of gentrification.
Interview longtime Athens residents to question how gentrification has changed the landscape of the city over the years.
Profile a resident of Parkview Homes about their experience in Athens, particularly since building began downtown.
Interview businesses that have been downtown for decades (The Caledonia Lounge, the 40 Watt Club) about how they have managed to stay relevant and interesting in a constantly changing area.
Look at how gentrification downtown has changed what businesses are open in the area — do downtown shops change as the people living downtown change?
How is the local government working to offset the effects of gentrification in the community? Are they attempting to bring in lower-income or rent controlled housing? Is there some sort of program available to help displaced residents find new homes? If so, how did these start?
Is it provable that gentrification is a factor that leads to homelessness in Athens or could something else be contributing to this? Compare homelessness over the years.
Has gentrification offered any benefits to the community — increased property values, reduced strain on local infrastructure, increased purchasing power in local businesses, etc?
Compare Athens neighborhoods today to Athens neighborhoods 20 years ago — are different people living in different areas, if so, why and when did this occur?
Everyone talks about housing when they think about gentrification, but I’d like to look at how it affects retail prices — what do rising prices mean for the accessibility of goods and services for Athenians? Nationally, we have seen that low-income communities have less access to grocery stores and healthy foods and that residents in these areas (called food deserts) are often obese due to a lack of healthy food. It might also be interesting to see how the public transit system in Athens makes Athens food deserts unique — because there are buses available, transportation into areas with healthy food options may not be as difficult as in other communities.
How does gentrification change the kinds of goods and services that local residents demand or, in other words, how does gentrification change cultural aspects of downtown? I think this could be particularly interesting because it speaks to what Athens is as a city and how it has gotten to where it is today. Are we a music town because we always have been or is that a result of gentrification?
How does gentrification change the cost of doing business — is this what makes lower-margin businesses more or less profitable? In this vein, how have business retention rates varied downtown as the city gentrified? Are tax incentives given to businesses that develop in gentrifying areas? It would be good to take a look at the city’s urban redevelopment plan and speak to members of the Downtown Development Authority about this, as well as local business owners.
How has gentrification affected minorities in the community?
Has gentrification changed the lives of women in Athens, particularly women in low-income households, for better or for worse?
How has gentrification changed the way the local government is planning to develop the city in terms of business and growth? (Urban Redevelopment Plan)
Does Athens have rent control regulations in place in any areas downtown? If so, what areas and how did that come to be?
Are there areas in Athens that have been rent controlled and are now being allowed to practice vacancy decontrol? This often happens in communities with a high rate of resident turnover and ultimately render rent control laws ineffective.
How have community groups developed since gentrification began in Athens? This is a community story, a profile of community groups like Athens for Everyone that have popped up in response to the continued gentrification in the city. This is particularly interesting because it shows the way different people of different classes try to effect change in their city and gives insight on what sorts of changes they would like to see occur. It would be interesting to tell the origin story of groups like this.
Has downtown art or murals changed in response to gentrification at all? This happens in many other gentrifying communities?

Brainstorming 2

Comparing cost of medication with and without insurance for students
How do the homeless get healthcare treatment?
Rising cost of pharmaceuticals on the market
Medical bills are the biggest cause of US bankruptcy (according to CNBC)
Nutritional health among the poor
The cost of becoming a doctor
Nurses are underpaid and overworked, according to survey
Depression treatment depends on socioeconomic class and race (according to study)
Seeking help for opioid abuse, what are the societal costs?
Getting off your parents’ healthcare plan is a difficult and complicated process, that leaves some, uninsured.
Looking at a lack of sleep and a lack of pay: the profile of a nurse
Trend story: looking at doctors that are forced to take on more patients and spend less time with each of them. With all the costs of healthcare, all the tests that doctors do to prevent patients from potentially suing them, and the money that sometimes sinking hospitals have to make to stay afloat, doctors are force to take on more patients than they’d like. Oftentimes, one will wait much longer than the five minute interaction they will later have with their physician. It hasn’t always been this way. Doctors used to make home visits and take their time explaining the situation to their patients. Why is this suddenly happening? Talk to doctors at the hospital in Athens.
Trend story: Looking at the cost of dying and why some patients are wanting to choose assisted suicide. (or to stop treatment) The debate about assisted suicide has come up a couple times. Most recently, a woman with terminal cancer went viral after making a video about how she had to cross state lines to find a way to die on her own terms. Dr. Kevorkian has been jailed for his very issue. And some European countries have now made it legal to choose a comfortable death over treatment. Talk to med students about medical ethics.
*Look Back: The rise of antibiotic soap and why the FDA decided to ban it. Most recently, the FDA banned the production of antibiotic soap. Antibiotic soap, advertising to kill germs and prevent diseases, meant to do good when it first came out. Unfortunately, over usage of antibiotic products created superbugs or antibiotic resistant bacteria that doctors had a hard time treating. Talk to some med students and pharmacists about this.
Localizer: Obamacare, is it better or worse for students at UGA?
*Doctors, with little time on their hands, sometimes make careless but life threatening mistakes when prescribing medications. Often times the pharmacist is left to catch the mistake and prevent a disaster. Profile of a local pharmacist.
*Some insurances don’t cover mental health costs. Why? CAPS has an overwhelming number of students needing help. They are incredibly selective about insurance and cant take long term treatment. Insurance tries to wrap up treatment as quickly as possible. Look at national data and interview CAPS.
medical economics problem: Doctors often work against the benefit of society by acting rationally in their own self interest. They over test patients and end up spending a lot more money than necessary in order to lessen the chances of getting sued.
*As consumers, we can get the price of almost everything we consume, except medical care. Why don’t doctors inform patients of how much treatment can cost? Being charged after the fact.
*Freakenomics- Does more sleep result in higher pay? Look at data and do some research/interview of your own. Compare with smoker’s ads that say that smokers make on average less than nonsmokers.

Brainstorming list

20 ideas (first 10 are from previous post):

Is the decline in numbers of homeless in Athens-Clarke County part of a broader trend statewide or nationwide? Is it particular to some sectors of the homeless population in our community or more generalized? What has it taught us about what worked and what did not? This story would look at efforts to reduce homelessness in Athens within the broader frame of trends and successful solutions nationwide.
How have factors associated with increasing rates of homelessness, from the 1980s onward, played out in Athens? These factors include: decrease in manufacturing jobs/decreased wages for those at the lower end; deinstitutionalization; disinvestment in social programs; gentrification/less affordable housing. This story would look at factors known to contribute to homelessness in terms of their applicability to Athens over the decades since the 1980s.
The Housing First model has been recognized nationally as a successful strategy. It calls for priority to be placed on finding housing without erecting barriers (such as requiring sobriety or other issues of compliance). This story would investigate use of the Housing First model in Athens.
How coordinated are services within Athens-Clarke County? Coordination of services has been cited as essential to help individuals benefit from resources and avoid waste of time and resources. This story would focus on providers, their roles in the community, and coordination among them, including successes stories as well as those who have fallen through the cracks.
How does the Athens-Clarke police force interact with the homeless community? In what ways is this beneficial? In what ways is it detrimental? This story would look at ordinances that disproportionately impact the homeless as well as their enforcement in the community.
We might call assumptions and stereotypes of homelessness a “master narrative” from which responses of the public are shaped and from which individuals themselves may view themselves. This story would look at assumptions/myths, responses they typically call forth, and realities that could change the conversation.
Among novel approaches to funding housing for vulnerable individuals is a call for Medicaid to include it among covered services! Here in Georgia we are a far cry from expanding Medicaid to include housing, but it is worth investigating where it stands elsewhere and perhaps plant the seed for discussion about it.
Starting with recognition of Athens as a compassionate community (with lots of evidence to show that!), this story would help direct compassion to as yet unfulfilled – or under-fulfilled – needs.
Athens, like other towns, has installed sidewalk meters that look like parking meters to collect donations for services for the homeless. The idea is to discourage direct contributions to panhandlers and funnel the money into a general fund. Is this a good idea? Has it “worked” in Athens or elsewhere? This story would look at rationales for the installation of care meters, amount of money collected and where it ends up, impact on amount collected by individuals on the streets.
Looking at one individual as a face of homelessness, this story would focus on Tony, the man I previously interviewed, in terms of his daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal routines and his use of resources in the community. This story would highlight what it is like to be homeless in Athens (for Tony specifically but with some implied extension to others), what has been useful to him and what needs remain unmet.

New ideas:

Sidewalks as a place for social exchange (in the words of Supreme Court Justice Roberts) where first amendment rights prevail. This article could bring in various things that take place on the sidewalks, including street performances, sidewalk preachers, and panhandlers.

Impact of being homeless on health –sleep deprivation, exposure to elements, lack of facilities

How community counts of number of homeless are obtained, as well as insights gained from the process of counting – qualitative in addition to the quantitative results

Awareness of subsets within the homeless population, including displaced families

Panhandlers downtown in contrast to those in outlying areas – differing access to resources, perhaps differences in demographics

Facing adversity – utility of a personal narrative of condemnation or redemption, connected to the bigger picture of personal storytelling in all of our lives

Diversity within population of homeless, including identified subsets and their differing needs

Homeless swag – not to sound too lighthearted but it’s interesting and informative to see websites devoted to how to get through the experience of homelessness, including this one on items that make it more bearable. http://www.swags.org.au/

Life after homelessness – how does one move on?

Keeping and caring for pets while homeless

Top ideas for profile story:

Looking at one individual as a face of homelessness, this story would focus on Tony, the man I previously interviewed, in terms of his daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal routines and his use of resources in the community. This story would highlight what it is like to be homeless in Athens (for Tony specifically but with some implied extension to others), what has been useful to him and what needs remain unmet. Sources for this story, in addition to Tony, could include: one of the founders of the PBJs program (which provides lunch and conversations every Sunday afternoon), founder of the Backpack project (which brings backpacks filled with useful items to those on the street), a community member who regularly interacts with Tony on the street, and a volunteer from Action Ministry (which provides breakfast and lunch Monday – Friday and bagged lunches on Saturday and Sunday).
Looking at an individual (or family) who has gotten past a period of homelessness, this story would perform the similar function of showing a face and a life to humanize the issue; it would describe what the experience had been like, as well as what it is like to move past the experience. It would also highlight community resources that were helpful and those that continue to be helpful. Sources in addition to the individual/family would be drawn from resources identified by the primary source (in a way similar to those described above).

Top ideas for trend story:

Yearly counts have revealed declining rates of homelessness in Athens-Clarke County as well as regionally. Is the decline in numbers here part of this broader trend? Is it particular to some sectors of the homeless population in our community or more generalized? What has it taught us about what worked and what did not? This story would look at efforts to reduce homelessness in Athens within the broader frame of trends and successful solutions regionally and nationwide. Sources could include Samantha Carvallio, who is responsible for conducting yearly counts; Rob Trevena, who heads the Housing and Community Development Department of Athens-Clarke County; Shea Post or Mary O’Toole representing the Northeast Georgia Homeless Coalition; and the individuals noted in the profile ideas above.
This story would focus on sidewalks as a place for social exchange (in the words of Supreme Court Justice Roberts) where first amendment rights prevail. It would bring in various social exchanges that take place on the sidewalks, including street performances, sidewalk preachers, and panhandlers and would look at threats to established ordinances brought on by a recent ruling that, by extension, would make current anti-panhandling ordinances unconstitutional. Where does this leave the community, particularly in terms of controlling aggressive panhandling? Sources for this story could include William Berryman, Jr., county attorney; Pamela Thompson, Executive Director of Athens Downtown Development Authority Board; individuals on the street, and (beyond the local scene) Anthony Laurielo, who is a JD candidate at Columbia Law School and who has written about possible resolutions to this dilemma.

Top ideas for pick-em story:

Behind the numbers – This story would look at data representing incidence of illness and mortality among those experiencing homelessness and would investigate conditions that bring on or exacerbate these illnesses. Sleep deprivation, exposure to conditions, lack of sanitary facilities, and possible threats to safety are certainly among those. Sources could include a representative of the health department, a representative of medical services at Athens Resource Center for Hope, one or two individuals living on the street, and (beyond the local scene) a representative of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
Off the beaten path – A master narrative that guides reactions to homelessness, toward individuals experiencing it, and contributing to development of policies can be identified in terms of commonly held assumptions, revealed in sociological research. This story would look at those assumptions/myths and realities that could change the conversation. Sources could include a professor from the sociology department at UGA; Marina Fisher, public policy expert with University of California at Berkeley; and founders of local nonprofits that serve sustenance and emotional needs of individuals experiencing homelessness in Athens (whom I believe would give balance in terms of not operating from that narrative).

Brainstorming, re: homelessness

Brainstorming –

Is the decline in numbers of homeless in Athens-Clarke County part of a broader trend statewide or nationwide? Is it particular to some sectors of the homeless population in our community or more generalized? What has it taught us about what worked and what did not? This story would look at efforts to reduce homelessness in Athens within the broader frame of trends and successful solutions nationwide.

How have factors associated with increasing rates of homelessness, from the 1980s onward, played out in Athens? These factors include: decrease in manufacturing jobs/decreased wages for those at the lower end; deinstitutionalization; disinvestment in social programs; gentrification/less affordable housing. This story would look at factors known to contribute to homelessness in terms of their applicability to Athens over the decades since the 1980s.

The Housing First model has been recognized nationally as a successful strategy. It calls for priority to be placed on finding housing without erecting barriers (such as requiring sobriety or other issues of compliance). This story would investigate use of the Housing First model in Athens.

How coordinated are services within Athens-Clarke County? Coordination of services has been cited as essential to help individuals benefit from resources and avoid waste of time and resources. This story would focus on providers, their roles in the community, and coordination among them, including successes stories as well as those who have fallen through the cracks.

How does the Athens-Clarke police force interact with the homeless community? In what ways is this beneficial? In what ways is it detrimental? This story would look at ordinances that disproportionately impact the homeless as well as their enforcement in the community.

We might call assumptions and stereotypes of homelessness a “master narrative” from which responses of the public are shaped and from which individuals themselves may view themselves. This story would look at assumptions/myths, responses they typically call forth, and realities that could change the conversation.

Among novel approaches to funding housing for vulnerable individuals is a call for Medicaid to include it among covered services! Here in Georgia we are a far cry from expanding Medicaid to include housing, but it is worth investigating where it stands elsewhere and perhaps plant the seed for discussion about it.

Starting with recognition of Athens as a compassionate community (with lots of evidence to show that!), this story would help direct compassion to as yet unfulfilled – or under-fulfilled – needs.

Athens, like other towns, has installed sidewalk meters that look like parking meters to collect donations for services for the homeless. The idea is to discourage direct contributions to panhandlers and funnel the money into a general fund. Is this a good idea? Has it “worked” in Athens or elsewhere? This story would look at rationales for the installation of care meters, amount of money collected and where it ends up, impact on amount collected by individuals on the streets.

Looking at one individual as a face of homelessness, this story would focus on Tony, the man I previously interviewed, in terms of his daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal routines and his use of resources in the community. This story would highlight what it is like to be homeless in Athens (for Tony specifically but with some implied extension to others), what has been useful to him, and what needs remain unmet.