The city of Atlanta on Thursday agreed to rehouse more than double the number of people living at a Sweet Auburn homeless encampment than it initially planned, responding to pressure from the Justice for Cornelius Taylor Coalition, which claimed officials had sharply undercounted the number of people who called the tent city home.
The Justice for Cornelius Taylor Coalition, made up of advocates from Housing Justice League, American Friends Service Committee, and other groups, is named for the unhoused man fatally hit by a bulldozer during the city’s first attempt to clear the Old Wheat Street encampment in January.
The city and its go-to homeless services nonprofit Partners for Home initially planned to clear out the Old Wheat Street encampment on Thursday and place 14 people in supportive housing — but the housing advocates spotted a glaring problem: There were at least twice that many people living on the small street next to Ebenezer Baptist Church…