As many Saporta Report readers will remember, last May, an extended-stay Economy Motel in Roswell, Georgia, was shut down after serious concerns were raised about uninhabitable living conditions, including mold and pests, drug use, and sex trafficking. Before its closure, this hotel was on the Fulton County Schools bus route, picking up dozens of children who called the hotel home. The motel had 100 occupied rooms, including seniors and families with 50 children in these rooms.
Across Georgia, hundreds of extended-stay motels serve as residences for families and individuals who have few other affordable housing options. An estimated 40,000-50,000 families in the metro area of Georgia consider extended-stay motel rooms their primary residence. A Dekalb study of motel residents conducted by GSU released earlier this year identified 35% of motel occupants are children.
Brian Goldstone’s Pulitzer-prize winning book, There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America powerfully documents the realities of the working homeless, like those trapped in extended-stay motels. Goldstone challenges readers to examine the systems that trap working families in extended-stay motels, contribute to intergenerational trauma, and make it extraordinarily difficult for families to achieve lasting housing stability. As Atlanta has increasingly come into the national spotlight for its shortage of affordable housing, local nonprofit organizations are partnering with philanthropy and local government to pioneer innovative models to address the issue and create pathways to lasting stability…