The Brief
- Thousands of single parents live full-time in extended-stay hotels across metro Atlanta.
- A new Georgia State University study found 1,600 children living in extended stays in DeKalb County.
- Advocates say low credit scores, past evictions, and not having enough money for security deposits trap families in a cycle of poverty.
ATLANTA – A new study has counted thousands of families in DeKalb County that have been staying in run-down extended-stay hotels for months, even years. It is part of a vicious cycle of poverty.
The study from Georgia State University found more than 2,000 families living paycheck to paycheck in DeKalb County, unable to move out of the hotels and secure stable housing.
That used to be Arilya Romero’s reality. “I just didn’t have any other options,” said Romero, who lived in an extended-stay motel in the Duluth area with her pregnant daughter and grandson. “It was supposed to be a temporary solution, but it felt like a trap once I got into the hotel,” Romero said. …